Key facts
- Michael Thompson was convicted of raping and murdering his estranged wife, Kimberley Thompson.
- Thompson attempted to stage the scene to appear as a suicide.
- He was also found guilty of two counts of perverting the course of justice.
- Thompson was an amateur boxer and former bouncer.
- The victim was an award-winning basketball coach and civil servant.
- Thompson will be sentenced next week.
Michael Thompson, 56, has been convicted of raping and murdering his estranged wife, Kimberley Thompson, 43, and attempting to make her death look like a suicide. The jury at Nottingham Crown Court found Thompson guilty of rape, murder, and two counts of perverting the course of justice after deliberating for over 11 hours. Thompson, a former amateur boxer and bouncer, attacked Kimberley, a civil servant and basketball coach, in their Northampton home on August 9 last year. He attempted to stage a suicide scene by moving pills and alcohol bottles near her body. Prosecutors argued Thompson was a 'jealous, obsessive and controlling' husband who used the suspicious death of his previous partner, Rhonda Anderson, to manipulate Kimberley. Anderson died in 2000 from electrocution in her bath, an incident initially ruled accidental but which police re-examined following Mrs Thompson's murder. However, the investigation into Anderson's death was closed due to insufficient evidence. The court heard Thompson had been monitoring his wife, who was in the process of divorcing him and preparing to move out. He sent messages from her phone suggesting she wanted sex and had typos characteristic of his own writing. A post-mortem revealed defensive injuries on Mrs Thompson, and friends reported she was happy and financially independent, contradicting the suicide narrative. Thompson will be sentenced next Tuesday.