A 66-year-old man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 20 years for the murder of his wife, a nurse, at their home in Dosthill, Tamworth.

Robert Alexander was sentenced at Stafford Crown Court on Tuesday after a jury unanimously convicted him of murder in June this year. The court heard that Alexander killed 60-year-old Christina Alexander in June 2025, stabbing her at least 77 times, causing blunt force trauma with a dog food can, and strangling her.

Following the attack, Alexander told police: "I've disposed of my wife," as reported by the Daily Mirror and Daily Record.

Background of control and violence

The court heard that the couple met through online dating and married in 2019. Over time, Alexander's behaviour towards Christina became increasingly controlling and violent, according to reports.

By 2025, Christina had begun taking steps to leave the relationship, including consulting a solicitor and making financial arrangements to live independently. In dashcam footage recorded in her car, she told her sister: "I'll probably be dead before then," as reported by the Daily Mirror and Daily Record.

Alexander had a prior conviction for battery in 2020 after placing Christina in a chokehold on September 13 that year. The Daily Mirror reported that when arrested for that offence, he was primarily concerned that she knew the PIN numbers for his bank cards.

In June 2021, Christina told police she was living under constant threat of violence. Despite being in employment, she remained financially dependent on her husband and feared she would have nowhere to live if she left, according to the Daily Mirror.

The killing and trial

In the weeks before the murder, Alexander harmed himself on two occasions. Psychiatric experts later concluded both incidents had been intended to manipulate and control Christina, the Daily Record reported. Days after being discharged from hospital following the second incident, he killed her at their home in the early hours of June 23, 2025.

A forensic pathologist found that Christina had sustained at least 77 stab wounds, including "catastrophic" injuries to her face, neck, body, arms and legs, as reported by the Daily Express and Manchester Evening News.

After the attack, Alexander made a 999 call in which he calmly told police he had killed his wife, according to the Daily Mirror. He initially admitted the killing but later changed his account, the same source reported. At trial, he claimed Christina had reached for a knife first and that he acted in self-defence, but the jury rejected his claims of self-defence and diminished responsibility.

Medical experts concluded Alexander was suffering from no more than mild depression and found no evidence of an abnormality of mind, the Daily Mirror reported.

Sentencing remarks

Passing sentence, Judge Avik Mukherjee told Alexander that the evidence in the case showed he was aware his partner was planning to leave him.

The judge said: "I am sure that you intended to kill Christina due to the extent of the injuries that you inflicted upon her and also the ways in which you attacked her," as quoted in the Daily Express and Manchester Evening News.

The judge ruled that the murder was committed against a background of controlling and coercive behaviour, particularly in relation to finances, according to the Manchester Evening News.

The judge told Alexander, of Ascot Drive, Dosthill, that there was "no guarantee that you will be released" at the end of the minimum term or at any particular time thereafter, as reported by the Daily Express and Manchester Evening News.

Reactions

Warwickshire Police Detective Superintendent Charlotte Naughton said: "This was a devastating incident, where Christina's life was violently ended too soon," as quoted in the Manchester Evening News.

Christina's brother Neil said: "Tina was somebody that throughout her life just wanted to help people," and described Alexander as "heartless, self-centred" and "without a decent human bone in his body," according to the Manchester Evening News.

Narmina Rafiq, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said the prosecution case was "complex" and "challenging," as reported by the Daily Record and Daily Mirror.