Wife killer who manipulated child has sentence increased

A man who murdered his wife and manipulated their child into helping cover it up has had his sentence increased.

Robert Rhodes cut wife Dawn's throat in their Surrey family home in 2016, but he was acquitted of murder in 2017 after claiming she had tried to attack him.

He was retried in December 2025 and handed a life sentence with a minimum jail time of 29-and-a-half years in January after their child gave new evidence.

The sentence was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Solicitor General Ellie Reeves for being "unduly lenient", and has been increased by four years, to 33 years and six months.

Prosecutors argued that Rhodes, appearing via video link, had carried out a "very sustained and significant covering up for many years", and that the starting point for the murder sentence should have been higher.

The Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme allows for crown court sentences to be reviewed if it is thought the sentence is too low.

In the ruling, Lady Justice May, sitting with Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb and Judge Nigel Lickley KC, agreed that the sentence was unduly lenient and said that the murder was "truly appalling", adding: "We find it hard to conceive of a more heinous plot."

It added that Rhodes' "callous, selfish manipulation" of the child was a "particularly abhorrent aspect of this case".

It said that Rhodes "thoroughly warranted a long minimum term", but that aspects of the case should have further aggravated the sentence.

Warning: Some readers may find the following details distressing.

The retrial at Inner London Crown Court in December heard how Rhodes plotted the murder for months and duped his child into helping him carry out the attack.

Rhodes murdered his wife in the kitchen of their home near Redhill.

After the killing, he then cut the child and asked them to stab him in the back so he could claim he had been attacked.

During the original trial, Rhodes claimed he had killed his wife in self-defence.

Dawn Rhodes's death followed the end of the couple's relationship, and they were in the process of separating after revelations of infidelity.

The pair had known each other for more than 20 years, having met when Rhodes was 21 and Mrs Rhodes was 18.

After marrying in 2003, the couple lived in Epsom and across Surrey, before settling near Redhill.

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