Man who murdered his wife's lover by beating him to death jailed

Ian Anderson was found guilty following a retrial eight years after originally being convicted

A man who "beat the living daylights" out of his wife's lover in a fatal attack has been jailed for life and will serve at least 15 years in prison.

Ian Anderson, 55, was found guilty of murdering Neil Roberts at his cottage on Queen Street in Castletown in 2013.

Deemster Graeme Cook said Anderson was a jealous man who had committed the "most appalling sequence of violence".

He will be able to apply for parole in five years, having spent nine years in prison before the retrial.

Anderson had been found guilty of murder at a trial in 2015, but the conviction was quashed on appeal by a higher court in 2021 because psychiatric evidence was not properly put before the original jury.

Neil Roberts was found dead at Ian Anderson's home on 1 December 2013

In a statement read by the prosecution, Neil Roberts' sister said the retrial had had an "immeasurable impact" on his family, who had gone through the "pain of having to relive" the case.

She said the verdict had brought "some closure" and she hoped her brother could "finally rest in peace".

The affair between Anderson's wife and Mr Roberts began in 2013 after the pair met him the previous year.

The court heard the two men had returned to Queen Street on 30 November after visiting a pub and a fight broke out after Anderson told told his wife and Mr Roberts they could be together but would have to leave the house.

'Catastrophic'

Deemster Cook said Anderson had known about the affair despite claiming they had denied it to him until the night of the murder.

While it was accepted Mr Roberts had thrown the first punch, Anderson had "lost it" and beat the 60-year-old to death in a continuous assault, inflicting more than 40 injuries, he said.

The deemster said the "catastrophic" blows to Mr Roberts' body must have been caused by jumping or stamping and Anderson's claim that he could not remember the attack was "selective memory".

Anderson's defence advocate had argued the 55-year-old had been provoked and was affected by his emotionally unstable personality disorder substantially.

Handing down the sentence, Deemster Cook said: "You simply lost it, and you must therefore pay."

The "dreadful circumstances" or Mr Roberts' murder and its aftermath will "live with his family forever", he added.