Police inspector who strangled wife thought he could 'use inside knowledge' to cover tracks

A police inspector strangled his wife and hid her body in her car before dumping it in a lake in the belief that he could “use his inside knowledge to cover his tracks”.

Darren McKie strangled his wife, Leanne, who was a detective constable in the same force, after she found out he had secretly applied for loans in both her name and his to pay off debts he had kept hidden from her.

McKie, 43, admitted manslaughter nine days into his trial at Chester Crown Court, but a jury has found him guilty of murder.

He showed “no remorse or regret” over killing the mother of his three children, according to a detective who investigated the case.

Detective Superintendent Aaron Duggan, of Cheshire Police, said officers had to “unpick the lies” of McKie. Det Supt Duggan said the killer had tried to “frustrate the inquiry” by disposing of crucial evidence, including his trainers, found in a wheelie bin near his Wilmslow home with his wife’s blood on.

He said: “Darren’s been holding out, he’s been hoping he could get away with what he’s done and it’s only when we’ve presented the overwhelming evidence during the trial that he’s accepted that there’s nowhere else for him to go other than to admit his guilt.”

McKie, who had been a serving police officer for more than 20 years, denied killing his wife during the five-month investigation, it emerged.

The trial heard the couple were more than £100,000 in debt and police believe they had an argument after Ms McKie discovered an application for a £54,000 loan made by her husband in her name.

Detective Inspector Adam Waller said after the case: “Darren McKie clearly thought he could get away with murdering his own wife – and used the knowledge gained as a police officer to try and systematically cover his tracks and dispose of evidence, with the aim of creating the impression that his wife had been murdered by someone else.

“He is a coward and refused to admit responsibility for his actions throughout the five-month investigation, instead subjecting the whole family to the ordeal of a trial.

“It was only when he was due to give his own evidence in court that he decided to plead guilty to manslaughter, but then refused to give any explanation as to what had taken place, meaning that the family will never know the full details of what happened that day.”

On the morning of her death Ms McKie was at home when her passport and salary details, accessed from the police system by her husband, were returned after being used in an application for a £54,000 loan, the jury heard.

She texted her husband, calling him a liar and asking: “Are we in such a mess?” The inspector then returned home.

Pathologist Brian Rodgers told the court Ms McKie had been strangled, with force equivalent to a karate chop, for a period of a minute or more.

McKie kept the body of his 39-year-old wife in the boot of her Mini, then went about his day as normal, including picking up their children from school and taking them to sports classes, the court heard. Other parents saw him laughing as he picked his children up.

That night, when the children were asleep, he drove her car to look for a place to leave her body. He eventually deposited it in Poynton Lake, eight miles from their home.

Police officers on patrol in the early hours of 29 September last year spotted McKie as he walked home, having left the car near the lake. When they saw him again 45 minutes later, he was no longer wearing his shoes, and refused to give them his full name and did not reveal he was a police officer. Later still, he told them he was looking for his wife who he thought may have been in a car accident.

Ms McKie’s body was found in the lake by a passerby and McKie was arrested just after 5am. His trainers were found to have his wife’s blood on them.

Phone records showed he had sent his wife four text messages in the afternoon and evening, knowing full well she was dead.

The court heard friends describe the couple as “the perfect family” but they were more than £115,000 in debt.

They had spent £63,000 on renovations to their four bedroom home, including £3,500 on a granite kitchen worktop, and went on a £4,500 holiday to Portugal that summer.

Ms McKie, who had an Instagram account documenting the house’s transformation, was apparently unaware of the debt.

In a statement, her parents, Ray and Ellen Dodd, said: “Justice has been served today. Our lives will never be the same again.

“There are no winners in this trial. We have lost our beautiful daughter and our grandchildren have lost their beloved mummy.”

McKie changed his plea moments before he was due to give evidence in his trial. He had denied murder on the basis he lacked the required intention. He will be sentenced on Tuesday.

DI Waller added: “Thankfully, the case presented in court against him was overwhelming and left the jury with no option but to find him guilty of murder.

“As a result of today’s verdict, his children have to face the prospect of not only dealing with the death of their mother, but now spending the rest of their childhood without their father in their lives also.

“I would like to express my sincere condolences to Leanne’s family. They have shown a lot of courage and dignity throughout the investigation and the trial and this has been a very difficult experience for them.

“I hope that they can now in some way start to rebuild their lives after going through so much pain and grief.”