Pitsea murder: Man jailed for killing partner Madison Wright

Prosecutors said Madison Wright sent a message to Gary Bennett the morning she was killed telling him he was "too controlling"

A "controlling" man who murdered his partner before taking her money has been jailed for a minimum of 21 years.

Gary Bennett strangled Madison Wright, 30, at his home in Pitsea, Essex, on 22 July last year, before dumping her body at a country park three days later.

The 37-year-old, of Caister Drive, was found guilty by a jury after a two-week trial at Basildon Crown Court.

The court was read messages sent by Ms Wright to Bennett on the morning she died, telling him she was not happy.

"What you did was unspeakable - you snuffed out the life of a woman you had been at pains to say was your world, who you loved," said Judge Samantha Leigh.

"She had the courage to say she was leaving you. Your attitude in my view was 'if I can't have you, no one can'."

Madison Wright was missing for eight days before she was found

Prosecutor Tracy Ayling KC told jurors Ms Wright, who worked as a cleaner, left a client's house at 11:00 BST on 22 July and arrived at Bennett's home about 15 minutes later.

The prosecution said Bennett killed her soon after, strangling her with his "bare hands".

The jury heard she was restarting a relationship with her ex-husband.

In text messages read to the court, Ms Wright told Bennett that morning "you're too controlling" and "I've not been happy for ages - we've had lots of chances to try to make it work but I just don't think it is."

Drug debt

The court was told Bennett kept her phone after the murder and sent text messages purporting to be from her.

He used fingerprint recognition from Ms Wright's body to transfer £950 from her online banking to his own account.

He sold a necklace, which her mother gave to her at the age of 16, and a bracelet, for £310 at a pawnbroker's on 23 July.

Jurors heard he was addicted to class A drugs and "owed lots of money".

Madison Wright's body was found covered by a fence panel at Wat Tyler Country Park

Jurors were told that Bennett said he was "jealous" of losing Ms Wright in one of his text messages in the days before he killed her

Ms Wright's family reported her missing on 25 July.

Her body was found on 30 July at Wat Tyler Country Park near Pitsea, where Bennett worked, covered in a pile of shrubs, branches and a fence panel.

Bennett had two previous domestic violence convictions, including one for punching an ex-girlfriend in the ribs in October 2019.

In a victim impact statement read at Bennett's sentencing on Wednesday, Ms Wright's mother Louise Bailey said the whole family were victims.

"Her life has been stolen not just from her, but from all of us," she said.

Det Supt Rob Kirby, speaking outside Basildon Crown Court, said Bennett was "a schemer, a liar and a murderer"

Ms Bailey also criticised communication from police during the missing persons investigation, saying she was repeatedly asked the same questions when officers came on shift.

She also said officers kicked Ms Wright's door down despite her mother handing over a key.

Ms Bailey said it was three weeks before they received formal DNA identification, after which point, the body was too "deteriorated" for the family to also identify.

Judge Leigh, however, commended a "fantastically solid" investigation and said it was "good old-fashioned police work".

Det Supt Rob Kirby, head of major crime at Essex Police, said Bennett was "a schemer" and "a liar" and urged anyone else "affected by domestic abuse" to get in touch.

The court was told Ms Wright was rekindling a relationship with her ex-husband and was due to rent a new two-bedroom flat

Christine Agnew KC, Bennett's defence barrister, said that "he did believe in his own way that he loved" Ms Wright and that her death was "an argument that went horrendously wrong".

She apologised to the judge, on Bennett's behalf, after he shouted "how dare you" when the jury convicted him on Tuesday.

Bennett, who did not give witness evidence during the trial, had claimed he did not kill or even attack Ms Wright.

The 37-year-old has already served 240 days of his prison sentence while on remand.