Skydiving instructor found guilty of murdering beauty salon owner’s girlfriend in bed

A skydiving instructor was convicted today of murdering his partner in a “furious rage” when he tried to end the relationship.

Ashley Kemp, 55, has told fellow parachute instructor and hair salon owner Claire Armstrong, 50, to leave her home over suspicions that he tried to rape a teenage girl. Afterwards, I shook my head.

He later dials 999 and tells the operator that he has “killed his girlfriend” before crashing his car into a field on a country road in a possible suicide attempt.

Police searched Kemp and found him in a dazed state. When he was arrested for murder, he said, “Who did you kill?”

Police responding to emergency calls found Armstrong, the mother of three, dead in her bed under a duvet at her home in Messingham, North Lincolnshire. she had suffocated.

Kemp of Hivarstow, North Lincolnshire, was planning to start a new job at Amazon when he was arrested.

He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and told a Grimsby Criminal Court jury that he had no intention of killing her, even suggesting that he acted in self-defense.

“I just didn’t know what I was doing,” he said.

The prosecutor said, “If you weren’t going to get her, no one could get her. You took it to her. How dare she tell you to leave.” She was struggling for her life, wasn’t she?”

Kemp replied, “I thought she was still trying to attack me.”

A jury took less than four hours to find him guilty of murder.

Kemp showed no emotion when the verdict was announced.

Kemp will be given a mandatory life sentence, but KC Judge John Thackray said the sentence would be postponed for legal reasons.

Former prosecutor Richard Tyne, KC, said their two-year relationship was “strained” and she told friends she expected to be single again.

Both worked at the Drop Zone Skydiving Center and were on the Skydiving Formation Team.

He said Kemp was facing accusations of trying to rape a teenager at work at the time of the alleged murder last November, which he denied. No decision has been made on whether to indict him for the alleged crimes.

However, the allegations put pressure on their relationship, which ultimately ended in tragedy.

Armstrong was last seen alive after midnight on Saturday, November 5, after spending the night at a local pub with his brother, sister, and partner before walking with Kemp. I went home with

Kemp didn’t dial 999 until midnight Sunday, but prosecutors believe she was killed the night before after eating in a pub.

Kemp later told police that they discussed the sexual allegations at Armstrong’s house as they were getting ready for bed.

He said she said “I can’t do it anymore” and asked him to leave.

A fierce fight then broke out, the court said.

Kemp admitted to headbutting his girlfriend after she grabbed him.

Kemp said she hit him multiple times and then “squeezed her throat as hard as she could until she stopped.”

“To be honest, it was like a red fog was coming,” he told police.

The court heard that Kemp was unwilling to discuss the allegations. He said he “panked” and “didn’t know what to do” after killing his girlfriend.

He called 999 at 12:41 am on Sunday and told the operator:

“I got into a fight and strangled myself.

“She’s in bed in the master bedroom upstairs.

“We just had an argument and it got hot. She started thrashing and I just reacted and didn’t react. .

Less than two hours after the 999 call, he was found dazed near his crashed car, 10 miles away.

A note on his clothes referred to rape allegations tearing the family apart.

he wrote: I can’t be happy right now, I’m so sorry.

Thyne said police never found Armstrong’s cell phone and that Kemp may have “destroyed” it to prevent police from finding it.