Natalie Hemming case: partner found guilty of murder

Paul Hemming, 43, was found guilty of murdering 31-year-old Natalie Hemming in their home after she told him she had slept with another man.

He previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter, obstructing the coroner and preventing a decent and lawful burial, but denied murdering the mother-of-three.

Natalie’s family cheered from the public gallery at Luton Crown Court as the guilty verdict was read out.

The trial heard how Natalie was planning on leaving Hemming for work colleague Simon Dennis who she had been having an affair with.

But the court heard Hemming killed the mother of his two children 24 hours later after she said she had slept with Mr Dennis.

Prosecuting for the Crown, Simon Russell-Flint QC had told the jury: “Natalie died at the hands of this defendant.

“This evidence we gathered proves that she was struck brutally to the head by Mr Hemming in the home that they shared.

“She was killed on May 1 this year, and whether or not she died instantly or immediately, following that attack on her what the defendant did was remove her body from their home, take it in his car, and dump her body in woods near Chandler’s Cross in Hertfordshire.

“It was there that Miss Hemming’s body was much later found, very clearly and undoubtedly dead.

“The defendant struck and killed Natalie in the living room of their home.

“He did not contact the emergency services, telephone 999 to ask for an ambulance or paramedics to come to the house or for the police to attend.

Mr Russell-Flint added: “Instead he wrapped her up, naked as she was found, in a carpet, the carpet she would have been lying on and was either carried or dragged her out of the house in which their children were peacefully sleeping in their beds upstairs and disposed her body in the boot of his care.

“He then drove 30 miles and disposed her naked body in woodland.

“He then returned home and casually and glibly and convincingly proceeded to lie and lie and lie to everyone who asked, Natalie’s family, Natalie’s friends, his own family and friends as to Natalie’s whereabouts.

“All the while he pretended to be worried and concerned where she was and for her welfare.”

The father claimed he threw the heavy Faberge egg made of Jade at Natalie which struck her head and caused her to fall and hit her head on the corner of their coffee table in the lounge.

He then explained her disappearance by telling police and her family she had been raped and needed time to “clear her head”.

Hemming brutally killed Natalie on May 1 at the home they shared near Milton Keynes before dumping her naked body 30 miles away.

Her body lay undiscovered in woodland near Chandler’s Cross, for almost a month before it was found on May 22.

During the two-week trial Hemming gave evidence and told the jury of six men and six women how he “knew” he had killed her.

He said: “I couldn’t believe I had done it. I just thought s**t I’m in trouble. How am I going to explain it to the kids upstairs. So then I thought I am going to cover this up.”

Hemming said he stripped his partner of nine years’ body in the car and then dragged her naked corpse by her feet into the undergrowth where he left her under the trees face down.

The next day the court heard how he took the three children, all aged under 12, for a “happy trip” to Wicksteed Zoo in Kettering.

Before her death, Natalie was in the navy and worked as a nursery nurse before she began working at a Mercedes garage in Milton Keynes.

Hemming is due to be sentenced later today