Man who claimed he killed partner in sex game gone wrong convicted of murder

A man who claimed he strangled his partner to death in a sex game gone wrong has has been convicted of murder by a jury. Alcwyn Thomas killed Victoria 'Vicki' Thomas after drinking heavily and taking cocaine but had denied murder saying the pair regularly enjoyed adventurous intercourse including strangulation.

Vicky Thomas was found dead in on the floor in a child's bedroom on the top floor of the house the couple shared in Cardiff last August wearing a dressing gown. She had suffered injuries consistent with being strangled and was found lying in her own faeces.

Alcwyn Thomas, who was found asleep in a bed on the middle floor of the same property, claimed that she had asked him to choke her and that she enjoyed strangulation and rough sex which had gone tragically wrong on this occasion.

"I opened my eyes and looked at her face... she looked dead," he said, giving evidence in his defence during the trial at Cardiff Crown Court.

See our coverage of the start of the prosecution case here: Man strangled partner to death at house in Cardiff after night out

However the prosecution said that he was using his sex life "as a smokescreen". Prosecutor Michael Jones KC told him in cross examination: "The truth of the case is you attacked and strangled Victoria, your sex life is a smokescreen to hide what you did to her, if it was true you could tell people and the police straight away.

“You knew Victoria was open about her sex life but after you had been arrested by police and remanded in custody you had time to think. You knew you had been charged and were facing 12 members of the jury to explain what had happened and how she ended up lying in her own faeces. Isn’t that right?”

The first day of a trial at Cardiff Crown Court had