A woman has been jailed for life for murdering her estranged husband whose death she had tried to pass off as a suicide.
Amy Pugh, 34, attacked Kyle Pugh following an argument in March 2022 at the home they had shared in Newport, Shropshire.
In a bid to cover up her crime, she lied to emergency services that the injuries to an unresponsive Mr Pugh, 29, were self-inflicted, but she was found guilty of murder at Stafford Crown Court in June.
In court on Friday, Pugh was ordered to serve at least 14 years in prison.
In delivering the sentence, Judge Kristina Montgomery KC said there had been a “volatile dynamic” between the couple and conflict had been “fuelled by alcohol and substance abuse”.
“Your relationship was described by everyone, including yourself, as toxic,” she said.
The judge added that Pugh, of Stafford Road, Wolverhampton, had struck her husband with such force that his nose and eye socket were broken, although it was injuries to his neck that led to his death.
During the trial, jurors had heard how the separated pair argued over Mr Pugh’s new partner when he visited the house in Newport just after 20:30 on 22 March three years ago.
The row turned violent and Mr Pugh was struck in the face and while he fought back, the court heard, he was overpowered by his wife who was able to subdue him and deliberately compress his neck “by some means”, perhaps with a choke hold.
Mr Pugh sustained neck compression injuries and was left unconscious. It was then that his wife began her attempt to ensure his condition could not be linked to her – by exploiting Mr Pugh’s history of “mental health struggles”, the judge told the killer, “to your advantage”.
The court heard that when she called emergency services, she told them the injuries were a result of Mr Pugh’s own actions, and in a 999 call could be heard shouting: “Kyle, wake up, why have you done this?”
Mr Pugh was taken to hospital where he died the following day.
The trial heard that while Mr Pugh did have a history of self-harm and attempts to take his own life, he had sent messages to his girlfriend, his father and his friends on the evening of the attack making plans to see them that night.
The judge said on Friday the killer had “decided to concoct a lie and stage a scene”.
She said that if Pugh had called the emergency services sooner, Mr Pugh might have lived.
But instead, the judge said, she had been “composed enough to tell persuasive and cohesive lies about what had happened”.
She said those lies had been “cynical and cruel” and they had caused Kyle Pugh’s family “significant additional suffering”.
“His family have had to endure repeated investigation and examination of his body and a significant delay to putting their loved one to rest,” she added.
Describing the fatal attack, the judge told Pugh: “You struck Kyle Pugh with such force that his nose and eye socket were broken.
“And then you compressed his neck, using either a chokehold or your forearm against his windpipe.”
She said: “You restricted the blood flow to his brain, he slipped into unconsciousness and suffered a cardiac arrest.”
The judge further told her: “You were fixated on Kyle Pugh.
“You had hope he would return to live with you despite his newly-formed relationship.
“Kyle Pugh had no intention of reuniting with you that night.”
She added she accepted boundaries between “victim and aggressor blurred”, and that “violence was introduced into your relationship” by Mr Pugh.
The judge said that in working out the minimum term Pugh would serve, she had taken into account that the neck compression may have been a reflex response to “escalating violence”, and that the killer may have considered she “would come off worse in the violence that followed”, trying “everything to prevent your coming to harm”.
That, the judge said, was no defence, but was mitigation.
In family statements read out in court, a further picture of the killer’s manipulation emerged.
Mr Pugh’s father Keith Pugh said his son “had a great heart, one that no longer beats and hasn’t for over three years”.
He said his daughter-in-law had gone with the family to arrange the funeral and had visited their family home, but they knew “something was wrong”.
Mr Pugh’s sister Victoria Edmunds said his death had been “a nightmare I’ve not woken up from”.
She also described saying goodbye to her brother in hospital and moving out of the way as he died so Amy Pugh could be with him.
“She’s the reason we’ve lost [him] forever,” she said.
Another sister, Kayleigh Pugh, said she would remember her brother as “a kind, funny man”.
But she recalled a “toxic culture” between he and his wife, and said arguments were “becoming physical”.
She said she wanted people to remember “men can also be victims of domestic violence” and added: “As a culture we are hard-wired to believe domestic violence towards a man is impossible.”
Speaking about the wait to hold a funeral for her brother caused by prolonged examination of the body, she said: “The last three and a half years have been an absolute hell.”
Her father said the protracted investigation had placed an “unimaginable toll on our family”.
Det Insp Jo Delahay said her force took all reports of domestic abuse seriously [BBC]
Following the sentencing, Det Insp Jo Delahay of West Mercia Police said it had been a “long, complex investigation”.
She said: “We knew the pair had a volatile relationship, however Kyle should not have died at the hands of the woman he once loved.”
Pugh had then “callously” used her knowledge of her ex-partner’s mental issues to protect herself, she stated.
Det Insp Delahay added that while it was unusual for a woman to murder a man, the West Mercia force would take all reports of domestic abuse seriously.
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