Clair Armstrong murder: Skydiving instructor jailed for 'devastating, tragic and brutal' murder of his girlfriend

Ashley Kemp, 55, was given a life sentence for the murder of mother-of-three Clair Armstrong, 50, who was also a skydiving instructor and owned a beauty salon.

Judge John Thackray KC said the relationship was ending and Kemp had decided “if you could not have her, nobody could”.

The court heard how a teenager had made sexual allegations against the defendant which had led to him losing his job and put a huge strain on the couple’s relationship.

Sentencing him at Hull Crown Court, Judge Thackray said the circumstances of the attack at Ms Armstrong’s home in Messingham, North Lincolnshire, were “devastating, tragic and brutal”.

He told Kemp: “On the day in question, she had informed you that the relationship was finally over and that you must move out.

“You decided that if you could not have her, nobody could and you launched a brutal attack upon her.” The judge said: “I have no hesitation in concluding, so that I am sure, that you intended to kill.”

He described the “undoubted terror” Ms Armstrong must have felt as the defendant headbutted her and then strangled her, saying “she was undoubtedly fighting for her life”.

He said: “I do not accept that you are genuinely remorseful.

“During your evidence, I detected nothing but self-pity from beginning to end.”

Judge Thackray sentenced Kemp to life in prison with a minimum term of 19 years. He said he set this minimum term bearing in mind the aggravating factor of domestic violence.

The judge said: “No sentence I impose can give the sons of Clair their mother back.

“No sentence I impose can undo what you, Kemp, have done.”

He said Ms Armstrong was “a wholly blameless victim of a violent attack upon her”.

The judge said: “Clair was 50 years of age and had so much to live for.

“She was obviously an impressive woman with her own business whilst also working as a skydiving instructor, in addition to her participation as part of a formation skydiving team.”

Kemp, of Robinson Grove, Hibaldstow, North Lincolnshire, showed no emotion as he sat in the glass-fronted dock wearing a grey suit, white shirt and purple tie.

He listened as Ms Armstrong’s brother-in-law, Ian Farrell, read an impact statement on behalf of her “siblings and sons”.

Mr Farrell said Kemp did not have the “decency to fully admit what he had done”.

The trial heard how Kemp made a 999 call on November 6 last year in which he said: “I have killed my girlfriend. We got into a fight, and I ended up strangling her.”

The defendant had fled the scene and crashed into a tree between the villages of Hemswell and Willoughton, where he was arrested.