What was he thinking? This is totally immoral!
Former British Independent Party (UKIP) member and former Royal Navy Admiral, Stephen Searle called the police on December 30 last year, "Hello...I just killed my wife."
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The victim, Anne Searle (Online photo)
On right, Stephen Searle (Online photo)
Stephen Searle's son, Gary and his girlfriend Anastasia Pomiateeva (Online photo)
Stephen Searle (Online photo)
Stephen Searle (Online photo)
When the police arrived at his apartment, they found that his wife Anne Searle, 62, had been strangled. What shocked the police not only the murder, but it disclosed Searle had cheated on wife with his son's girlfriend by sending half-naked photos and messages close to the bones to seduce his son Gary Searle's girlfriend, Anastasia Pomiateeva.
The victim, Anne Searle (Online photo)
Although Anastasia and Gary did not marry, they loved each other and had their own child. However, Searle had affection for his daughter-in-law.
In last March, Searle invited Anastasia to his office using chatting and drinking coffee as an excuse when he was still a member of Independent Party. The conversation was abnormal while the 64-year-old said he had not had sex for more than six years, and asked Anastasia directly if she could help him satisfy his desire. Then Anastasia was shocked to leave immediately.
However, Searle did not give up. He began to send semi-naked photos and a variety of flirty messages to Anastasia. After a month, the timid woman agreed with his request.
On right, Stephen Searle (Online photo)
In June last year, Searle's wife, Anne began to felt something wrong because she often couldn't contact her husband and her son's girlfriend at the same time. She felt the two seemed to have some secrets.
Finally, she caught her husband and her son's girlfriend in a hotel room. Then Anastasia confessed to Gary, "Your father is making every effort to threaten me. I have to obey him because I have no choices."
Stephen Searle's son, Gary and his girlfriend Anastasia Pomiateeva (Online photo)
Online photo
Gary forgave her girlfriend for loving her so much, saying "this kind of trauma makes us closer to each other. But he refused to forgive his father. "I really can’t bear the man I had been long adored would do such things to me," Gary said.
On the other hand, Anne, who has been married to Searle for 45 years, had thought about divorce. However, considering her age, she chose to forgive him, but the relationship between the two didn’t improve due to her forgiveness.
Stephen Searle (Online photo)
Searle has always hated his wife and thought that She ruined his "plan". Even though Anne prepared a hearty Christmas feast, he poured it directly into the trash, totally breaking Anna' heart.
Stephen Searle (Online photo)
On the day of the incident, the couple quarreled again. Although he claimed that his wife had first smashed him with a knife and he wrongly killed her for self-defense, the forensic doctor and the police investigated and overturned his lies.
The court sentenced him to life imprisonment for deliberate conviction and not allowed to be released on parole within 14 years.
Online photo
The judge sentenced: "You took away your child's beloved mother, took away your grandson's grandmother, and took away the rest of Anne's years." Based on Searle's age, and recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, the judge said: "Most of the rest of your life, or all of it, will be spent in the prison."
NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione’s federal death penalty trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson could begin before the end of the year, a judge said Friday while weighing a defense bid to bar the government from making it a capital case.
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett said she expects Mangione’s trial to begin in December — or possibly January 2027, as federal prosecutors suggested — if the death penalty is still on the table. If not, she said, Mangione could stand trial in October.
Either way, Garnett said, she expects jury selection to begin around Sept. 8. No trial date has been scheduled in Mangione’s parallel state murder case. Prosecutors previously said they anticipated the state trial to be first.
Garnett said she would issue a written schedule after looking at her calendar and reviewing notes of conversations she's had with the court’s jury coordinator.
The judge said she would rule at a later date on the defense's requests to prevent prosecutors from seeking the death penalty, throw out some charges and exclude certain evidence. Another pretrial conference is scheduled for Jan. 30.
Mangione’s lawyers contend that authorities prejudiced his case by turning his December 2024 arrest into a “Marvel movie” spectacle and by publicly declaring their desire to see him executed even before he was formally indicted.
At the same time, they are asking Garnett to throw out two of the four charges against him, including the murder by firearm charge that has enabled the government to seek the death penalty. They argue that it is legally flawed.
Federal prosecutors say Mangione’s lawyers are wrong on both fronts, countering that the murder charge is legally sufficient and that “pretrial publicity, even when intense” is hardly a constitutional crisis. Any concerns about public perceptions can be alleviated by carefully questioning prospective jurors about their knowledge of the case, prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to federal and state murder charges, which carry the possibility of life in prison.
Friday's hearing was Mangione’s first trip to Manhattan federal court since his April 25 arraignment.
A cause célèbre for people upset with the health insurance industry, Mangione again drew supporters to the courthouse. Some wore green clothing and carried signs such as “Free Luigi" and “No Death For Luigi Mangione."
Mangione, wearing a beige jail uniform, was attentive but didn’t speak once during the nearly three-hour proceeding. After entering the courtroom, he greeted his lead attorneys, Karen Friedman Agnifilo and Marc Agnifilo, with handshakes. He nodded along while reading documents, sometimes sipping from a plastic water bottle.
In addition to the death penalty issue, Garnett is weighing a defense request — similar to one in his state case — to bar the government from using certain items found in a backpack during his arrest. The defense argues that the search was illegal because police had not yet obtained a warrant.
Those items include a gun that police said matched the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which Mangione purportedly described his intent to “wack” a health insurance executive.
Garnett said she is not inclined to hold a separate hearing on the evidence issue like one last month that took three weeks in Mangione’s state murder case. The judge in that case said he won’t rule until May.
Prosecutors contend police were justified in searching the backpack to make sure there were no dangerous items and that the gun, notebook and other evidence would have eventually been found anyway.
Thompson, 50, was killed Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.
Mangione, 27, the Ivy League-educated scion of a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.
He's already had success paring down his state case. In September, a judge threw out state terrorism charges against him.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced last year that she was directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty, declaring that capital punishment was warranted for a “premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.”
Mangione’s lawyers argue that Bondi’s announcement, which she followed with Instagram posts and a TV appearance, showed the decision was “based on politics, not merit.” Her remarks tainted the grand jury process that resulted in his indictment a few weeks later, they said.
In this courtroom sketch, Luigi Mangione, center, flanked by his attorneys Karen Agnifilo, left and Marc Agnifilo, right, during his court appearance in Manhattan federal court, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)
Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Luigi Mangione, arrives at Manhattan federal court, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Supporters of Luigi Mangione raise signs outside Manhattan federal court, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
US Marshall Service officer stand while people wait in line outside Manhattan federal court ahead of a hearing for Luigi Mangione, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
Legal team of Luigi Mangione including Karen Friedman Agnifilo, center, and Marc Agnifilo, second right, arrive at Manhattan federal court, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
