Mortgage Adviser Kills Wife for Financial GainMortgage Adviser Kills Wife for Financial Gain Robert Hammond, a 47-year-old mortgage adviser, has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 24 years for murdering his wife, Sian. The motive behind the heinous crime was financial gain. Hammond faced mounting debt and financial pressure, owing approximately £300,000. Days before his wife’s murder, he paid off arrears on her life insurance policy, which offered a substantial £450,000 payout in the event of her death. On October 30, 2022, Hammond made a 999 call claiming to have found his wife unresponsive in bed. An autopsy revealed she had been strangled and suffered other injuries. Evidence presented at Cambridge Crown Court showed that Hammond had lied to creditors, delayed payments, and falsely claimed he had cancer. He had also searched the internet for ways to disable airbags in cars and about drug overdoses. The judge noted that Hammond’s facade of a successful life masked his financial struggles. He described the murder as “brutal” but determined that it was not premeditated. Hammond’s daughters pleaded with the judge to minimize his sentence, stating that their father did not need to serve more time than necessary. Prosecutor Christopher Paxton emphasized that Hammond’s motive was “financial gain.” The defense attorney, Karim Khalil, acknowledged a lack of pre-planning but highlighted Hammond’s remorse and his daughters’ request for leniency. Hammond showed no emotion as he was sentenced. However, before the verdict, he blew kisses to family members in the gallery.
A mortgage adviser who murdered his wife for financial gain as debts mounted has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 24 years.
Robert Hammond, 47, was facing an “ever-increasing mountain of debt and financial pressure” when he strangled his wife Sian Hammond, a trial at Cambridge Crown Court was told.
Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC said the defendant, also known as James, had debts of around £300,000 and had paid off arrears on his wife’s life insurance policy four days before her murder.
Mr Paxton said 46-year-old Mrs Hammond’s life insurance policy offered a £450,000 payout in the event of her death.
Hammond denied murdering his wife at the family home in Primes Corner, Histon, Cambridgeshire, but a jury found him guilty.
He had called 999 just before 2am on October 30 last year and told the operator that he had found his wife lying face down in bed and not breathing.
Sian Hammond, who was murdered by her husband Robert Hammond (Cambridgeshire Police/PA)
Judge John Cavanagh KC sentenced Hammond to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 24 years at Cambridge Crown Court on Tuesday.
He must serve this minimum sentence before he is eligible for release.
The judge told Hammond: “On the face of it you had an enviable life, went on regular holidays and recently bought a holiday home.”
But he said that “behind this facade, cracks were beginning to appear”.
“You had put too much effort into renovating your building, the companies were deeply in debt,” said the judge.
He said Hammond had lied to creditors to delay payments and had said he had cancer.
The judge said he was “confident that Sian was unaware of the plight you were in until the weekend of her death, or at least shortly before”.
He said to Hammond: “You are a seasoned and accomplished liar, who lies when it suits you.”
Hammond, who stood before the judge in a suit and put his glasses on his head, shook his head as he was sentenced.
The judge told him there was ‘a way out, but that would mean dismantling the real estate portfolio you had built up over the years’.
He said Hammond had searched the internet for ways to deactivate the passenger airbag in a Ford Focus, a type of car the family had, and about the overdose of diazepam, a drug his wife had previously taken.
He described the attack on Ms Hammond as “brutal and determined” but said the “murder as it happened was not part of a careful plan – it happened more or less at the last minute”.
He said the motive was unknown as Ms Hammond could not give evidence and Hammond’s evidence was “not to be trusted”, but the judge raised a “sudden argument” as a possibility.
The judge described Mrs Hammond as a “wonderful mother who is devoted to her two daughters”.
Christopher Paxton KC, prosecuting, said Hammond called 999, “feigned attempts at resuscitation and then persistently tried to cover up his actions”.
He said the suspect’s motive was “financial gain.”
Karim Khalil KC, softening the situation, said there was “no significant degree of pre-planning”.
He said it was “remarkable that both daughters … have made it clear that he (Hammond) did not need to serve a day longer than absolutely necessary”.
Mr Khalil said they had “begged” the judge to “minimize the sentence”.
Mr Paxton, opening the case at the start of the trial, said Mrs Hammond was pronounced dead at the family home.
The lawyer said an autopsy had revealed Sian Hammond had been strangled and had also suffered other injuries, including to her vagina.
Mr Paxton said Hammond, who ran a company called Hammond Mortgage Services, was in debt to the tune of about £300,000 at the time.
He said he owed about £200,000 of this to Legal and General. On 30th October an agent who collected this debt called him.
“He told her that his wife Sian had died that morning and that even though they were getting divorced, she was the mother of his children,” Paxton said.
The prosecutor stated that the suspect claimed that they were happily married.
Mr Paxton said that on November 3 Hammond spoke to the agent again about the debt and asked: “If he could pay off the debt quicker, as he would then get life insurance, would Legal and General be willing to review the interest payments on the balance of the debt?”
“Sian Hammond had been dead less than a week and this was the subject of the suspect,” Paxton said.
He said Hammond had “set his sights on the price of Sian’s life insurance payout”.
Hammond showed no reaction as he was led to the cells.
Before the judge delivered his verdict, he blew kisses to family members in the public gallery.
