He changed clothes, put the bins out – when police arrived they found what he ‘disposed’

A man who stabbed his wife 78 times and told police he had “disposed” of her has been convicted of murder. Robert Alexander, 66, killed Christina Alexander, 60, at their home in Dosthill, Tamworth, in June 2025. After killing her, he changed his clothes, put the bins out and sat in the lounge with his dog before calling 999. Prosecution counsel Rebecca Wade KC said he told officers: “I’ve disposed of my wife.”

Alex previously put his wife in a headlock, strangled her and bit her neck, jurors heard at Stafford Crown Court. The couple met on a dating app and married in 2019. Alex was violent and controlling towards his partner, a nurse. Driven by an obsession with money, he was determined to stop her leaving, the court heard.

He told police: “It’s all to do with money, dictating to me how I spend my inheritance. She came into my life about eight years ago with nothing.”

Police were called on September 13, 2020, after he placed Ms Alexander in a chokehold.

When arrested, his main concern was that she knew his bank card PIN numbers. He was later convicted of battery.

In June 2021, Ms Alexander told police she was living under constant threat of violence. That month, she phoned 999 because she was frightened after her husband picked up an iron bar and waved it at her.

It led to him being issued with a domestic violence protection order.

Despite being in work, she remained financially dependent on the defendant and feared she would have nowhere to live if she left.

By 2025, Ms Alexander had begun taking steps to leave the relationship, including consulting a solicitor and making financial arrangements to live independently, BirminghamLive reports.

Dashcam footage from her car captured her telling her sister: “I’ll probably be dead before then.”

The man told jury at Stafford Crown Court that he had acted in self-defence after his wife had reached for a knife first, which was rejected by the jury.

He also argued that depression and autism reduced his responsibility, Sky News reports.

Narmina Rafiq from the CPS said: “This was a complex and challenging prosecution involving detailed psychiatric evidence and conflicting expert opinion about Robert Alexander’s mental state.

“Alexander told different stories to different people and changed his version of events when it suited him.

“The jury carefully considered all of the evidence and rejected his claims of self-defence and diminished responsibility.

“We were able to demonstrate that his actions were driven by control, both over his wife and over money, and that his self-harm formed part of that pattern, rather than being the result of a serious mental disorder.”

Alexander will be sentenced on a date to be confirmed.