Skydiving instructor found guilty of murdering girlfriend in bed

2023-04-25

Skydiving instructor is found guilty of murdering his beauty salon owner girlfriend in bed in a ‘fit of rage’ as they argued over claim he tried to rape teenage girl

Ashley Kemp, 55, showed no emotion as he was found guilty of murder
Kemp had strangled his lover Clair Armstrong to death following a bed time row

A skydiving instructor was today found guilty of murdering his partner in a ‘fit of rage’ as she tried to end their relationship.

Ashley Kemp, 55, strangled fellow parachuting instructor and beauty salon owner Clair Armstrong, 50, after she told him to leave her house over an allegation he had attempted to rape a teenage girl.

He later dialled 999 and told the operator ‘I’ve killed my girlfriend’ before crashing his car into a field on a rural road in a possible suicide attempt.

Police had been hunting for Kemp and found him in a dazed state on the verge. When arrested for murder he said ‘who have I murdered?’

Officers responding to the emergency call found mother-of-three Ms Armstrong dead in bed under her duvet at home in Mesingham, North Lincolnshire. She had been asphyxiated.

Ashley Kemp (left) throttled Clair Armstrong (right) to death following a bedtime row

Kemp (pictured) showed no emotion as he was found guilty of murder

Before she was murdered, Clair Armstrong (pictured) had told Kemp to leave her house over an allegation he had attempted to rape a teenage girl

Kemp, of Hibaldstow, North Lincolnshire, had been due to start a new job for Amazon when he was arrested.

Clair was an accelerated free form instructor

He has admitted manslaughter, telling the jury at Grimsby Crown Court he didn’t intend to kill her and even suggested he acted in self-defence.

‘I just did not know what I was doing,’ he said.

The prosecutor said: ‘If you were not going to have her no one was going to have her. You took it out on 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.’

The 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 term but Judge John Thackray, KC said sentencing would be adjourned for legal reasons

Earlier prosecutor Richard Thyne, KC, said their two-year relationship had become ‘strained’ and she told friends she expected to be single again.

Both worked at the Drop Zone skydiving centre where she was also in a sky-diving formation team.

He said at the time of the alleged murder last November Kemp was facing an accusation, which he denied, of attempting to rape a teenager at work. No decision has been made on whether to charge him for the alleged offence said to have happened that summer.

But the allegation was putting pressure on their relationship and it ultimately ended in tragedy.

Kemp had previously told police Clair had grabbed him so he ‘squeezed her throat as hard as he could until she stopped’

Forensic teams arriving at the scene of the investigation in Messingham, North Lincolnshire, last November

Ms Armstrong was last seen alive shortly after midnight on Saturday 5 November, returning home on foot with Kemp from an evening at her local pub with her brother and sister and their partners.

Although Kemp didn’t dial 999 until after midnight early on Sunday the prosecution believe she was killed the night before, following the pub meal.

Kemp was later to tell police they rowed over the sexual allegation as they got ready for bed at Ms Armstrong’s house.

He said she told him she couldn’t ‘do it anymore’ and asked him to leave.

Skydiving instructor found guilty of murdering girlfriend in bed

Skydiving instructor is found guilty of murdering his beauty salon owner girlfriend in bed in a ‘fit of rage’ as they argued over claim he tried to rape teenage girl

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