Ex-soldier jailed for life for strangling wife over fears she would leave him

A former soldier who strangled his wife amid fears she would leave him has been jailed for life for her murder.

Michael Davies, 58, was told he would spend at least 14 years in prison for killing Tracey Davies, 48, at their home in Cefn Cribwr, Bridgend, south Wales.

Newport Crown Court heard Davies had become increasingly paranoid after losing his job in Abu Dhabi and feared his wife of one year would leave him.

Mrs Davies was found dead in bed by family members on April 18 last year – a week after her husband returned from the Middle East.

After murdering his wife, Davies attempted to take his own life but was later arrested by police.

He had admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility but was found guilty of murder by a jury.

Psychiatrists agreed he was suffering from a “depressive disorder with anxiety” but disagreed on the severity.

The court heard the pair each had two children from previous relationships and met in 2021. They married in 2024.

Mrs Davies’s daughter, Danielle Young, told the court in a victim impact statement that her family would never come to terms with losing her mother.

“Losing mum in such a horrendous and violent way has affected us so much in our everyday lives,” she said.

“Knowing that she would have been terrified and confused as she was killed is a thought that will continue to haunt us as a family.

“These are images that we will never be able to erase from our minds.

“To hear and see the graphic details of how she was killed by the person she loved has been a complete torment to us.

“As a family, we will always be tormented by the thoughts of mum’s final moments as she left this world.

“We as a family do not believe that Michael has shown any genuine remorse for what he did to mum or for the suffering that has caused us all.

“Not one ounce of emotion came from him in the courtroom. A man I thought I once knew has ruined our lives.”

Mrs Davies’s younger sister, Julie Reeve, told the court: “My sister really was the anchor that held our family together. Without her I feel like this family is completely broken.

“The last 18 months I have experienced the flashbacks and nightmares of what my sister experienced at the hands of Michael before she died.

“I am tormented by the thought that she would have struggled and would have been so petrified as she was killed by Michael.

“Michael, I think you’re a coward for doing what you did.

“Michael, your actions have taken a mother away from her children, a sister away from her siblings, an auntie away from her nieces and nephews and a friend away from those who knew and loved her.”

David Elias KC, defending, said Davies had shown remorse because he had accepted in police interviews killing his wife.

“The reason that there was a trial was that the first two psychiatrists, one instructed by the defence and one by the prosecution, indicated that the partial defence of diminished responsibility was available to Mr Davies,” he said.

“In the end, of course, the jury found that that was not proved to the requisite standard.”

Mr Elias added: “He is a man that served his country with distinction in the armed forces for many years.

“But more than that, he was, until the days we submit prior to this offending, a man who everyone spoke about as being kind, considerate, a family man, and someone who did his best to bring the families together whenever it was that he returned to the UK.”

Passing sentence, Judge Daniel Williams said no sentence he could pass would ever be enough for the family of Mrs Davies.

“In early 2025, you were in Abu Dhabi when you learnt that your work would be coming to an end,” he said.

“This triggered a decline in your mental health. You feared that you would not be able to repay a loan which you had taken out.

“You would ruminate and catastrophise about the consequences of being out of work.

“You thought that you would become less attractive to Tracey who had once regarded you as her saviour.

“Tracey herself had obtained work at this time, and you became highly insecure and jealous about her working with other men.”

The judge said he did not accept that Davies was “telling the whole truth” about the murder.

“The truth is that you could not shake off your fear that Tracey was going to leave you for someone else,” he said.

“Tracey’s work was a source of insecurity and resentment. You have never said what caused you to kill Tracey.

“I’m sure that there was a trigger. Whether something was said or done or whether that trigger, external or in your mind, is something that only you know.

“And you’re keeping that to yourself. The fact is that your anger, born of insecurity, and exacerbated by mental illness, got the better of you.

“And you strangled Tracey to death.”

He added: “I’m deeply conscious that no sentence, expressed as it must be in years and days, will reconcile Tracey Davies’ family and friends to their loss.

“Their grief has no release date.”