Policeman jailed for killing fiancee
November 24, 2009
Martin Forshaw, the police officer who battered his fiancee to death, has been sentenced to life in prison. The twenty-seven-year-old bludgeoned his fiancee Claire Howarth repeatedly with a hammer just before they were due to fly to St. Lucia to get married. Mr. Forshaw, who admitted that he was guilty on the first day of his trial, then carried the still breathing Ms. Howarth down the her BMW. He placed her in the passenger seat and then drove through the country lanes around Bolton before pretending to crash into a hedge. He then phoned the police to report the accident. When the police and paramedics arrived on the scene Mr. Forshaw said that his fiancee had not been wearing her seatbelt when the accident occurred.
Later in his trial Mr. Forshaw said that the injuries to Ms. Howarth had actually occurred as he tried to defend himself as she attacked him with a mallet. Forensic scientists working on the case say that this story was completely implausible.
Ms. Howarth had recently completed a two-year period of probation with the police and was due to start on the beat in the Manchester area when Mr. Forshaw decided to murder her. It is alleged that Mr. Forshaw was seeing the mother of his son at the time the murder took place and that very few of his colleagues had any idea about his plans to marry Ms. Howarth. Mr. Forshaw was told that he would serve a minimum of eighteen years for the crime.
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