Man who strangled wife in row over frozen chips jailed for life
Yvonne McCann's body was found by dogwalkers in Reddish Vale Country Park in Stockport last May
Last updated 30th Mar 2021
A jealous husband who strangled his wife after a row about frozen chips, then dumped her dismembered body in a country park, has been jailed for life for murder.
Thomas McCann, 49, strangled "childhood sweetheart'' Yvonne, 46, his wife of 24 years, in the bathroom of their home, after a row about a £3 bag of frozen chips left out of the freezer, Manchester Crown Court heard.
McCann then used a Stanley knife and tree lopper to cut up the body of the mother-of-four, stopping to send and reply to text messages to their children, pretending their mother was still alive.
McCann was jailed for life on Tuesday with a minimum term of 13 years and four months before parole.
Passing sentence, Judge Alan Conrad QC told the defendant:
"Your actions after the killing amount to serious aggravating factors.
"The defence suggest a combination of self-interest and panic, but what you did makes a terrible case even more horrific and even more upsetting to those concerned.
"Yvonne McCann was a woman with a great deal to live for and a great deal to look forward to when her life was so cruelly cut short by you.''
McCann later told police he was "Hannibal Lecter'' and said: "I killed my wife and disposed of her like garbage,'' after he "lost control and could not stop''.
Earlier Andrew Smith, prosecuting, told the court the couple met as teenagers and had been together for 32 years until McCann attacked his wife on May 23 last year, the Saturday morning of the May Bank Holiday weekend.
Mrs McCann began to see another man around 2013, leading to her husband's jealousy and relationship breakdown and ultimately to her murder.
Mr Smith said:
"Seemingly the trigger was some used frozen chips.
"During that argument it is now clear that the defendant attacked Yvonne, strangled her to death in the bathroom and thereafter he dismembered her body in the bath.''
At the same time he used his wife's mobile phone, and his own, to send and reply to text messages from their children, saying they had had a row and his wife had walked out.
Parts of her body were discovered by dog walkers in Reddish Vale Country Park, Stockport, on the Bank Holiday Monday.
Police were alerted and they found two bags, then four more half a mile away in another part of the park.
McCann was later captured on footage carrying bin bags to his car and carrying bags while walking towards the country park.
Later he was seen throwing eight plastic bags into a skip at Bredbury Recycling Centre.
Only 50% of his wife's body has been recovered.
In a victim impact statement from her children, Rachel Lawson, her daughter, said: We are all really struggling with this. We love our mum very much, we also love our dad.''