A wealthy businessman was facing life in prison today after he was found guilty of murdering his wife by brutally stabbing her to death at their luxury country home.
Callous millionaire Harold Landry, 65, plunged a carving knife into wife Lucy, 38, 23 times after arguing with her over cash in their impending divorce settlement.
She stumbled outside their £800,000 mansion and managed to call for help despite being stabbed repeatedly during the attack.
But a neighbour found her lifeless, bloodied body in his garden in a hedge after he dashed outside to investigate.
The jury of four men and eight women took three hours and 52 minutes to unanimously find Landry guilty of murder at Wolverhampton Crown Court today.
Landry’s defence team appealed to the judge to pass a ”lenient” sentence claiming he was in ”poor health”.
Judge David Robert Foskett QC adjourned sentencing until tomorrow but he is expected to rule he serves a minimum of 15 years.
He told the court: ”For matters like this I would like to reflect on it overnight.”
Mrs Landry, who was originally from South Wales, was living in Coventry when she met retired engineer Landry after he travelled to the UK following their internet romance.
Neither of them worked and they spent most of their time together until the marriage turned sour in 2009.
The couple, married for eight years, were heading for an acrimonious divorce after Mrs Landry, 38, began an affair with an old school friend, Gareth Jenkins.
But she was killed after arguing with Landry at couple’s luxury home in Pershore, Worcestershire, on February 1 last year.
Mrs Landry had accused her husband of asking his solicitors to withhold a £6,000 deposit and rent payment and demanded he pay her £400 in maintenance.
Giving evidence, the millionaire said Lucy called him a “pervert” and threatened to post revealing pictures of him he had sent to her on a school’s gates so he would be arrested.
Landry, from Louisiana, USA, then described to a court the moment he hit her with a granite rolling pin as they argued
He told the court: ”I thought she was going to attack me. I grabbed the rolling pin and swung it.”
She then ran upstairs where he stabbed her with a six to eight inch blade, the court heard, before watching her collapse, covered in blood, with the kitchen knife still in her side.
Despite her injuries, Mrs Landry managed to scramble out and yell for neighbour Stephen Kennedy.
Mr Kennedy told the murder trial how he was woken by her frantic screams – calling his name and pleading for help – before going out of his home to find her body in his hedge.
But there was no pulse on her body.
The court heard a dramatic 999 call, made at 11.49pm, with Mr Kennedy saying ”my neighbour has just stabbed his wife”.
The recording continued: ”She is lying on the drive. I am not sure if she is dead. She is not moving. She has got a knife in her side. It is sticking out”.
Landry was arrested by police – but denied murdering the wife he met on the internet and claimed he was only guilty of her manslaughter.
The successful businessman, who suffers from prostate cancer, sobbed in the dock as the jury was told about their previously happy marriage.
But the jury were told Landry resented her new boyfriend benefiting from his wealth and had spoke about giving away his money and coin and stamp collection.
After the verdict it emerged that Landry had previously faced a charge of attempted murder back in the US – after shooting a former girlfriend’s husband in the throat.
Chris Price was shot on February 6, 1994, in Covington, in Louisiana, US, after Landry was revealed to be having an affair with his wife Jeralyn.
Landry said he feared for his life when he fired at unarmed Price at near point-blank range with a .38-caliber revolver.
The court heard the bullet severed an artery and a vocal cord, and could have been fatal had it not occurred near the hospital.
Landry faced a charge of attempted second-degree murder, but was found guilty of the lesser charge of aggravated battery – receiving a five-year suspended sentence.
Landry will be sentenced tomorrow at 10.30am.
