A RETIRED police inspector who murdered his wife has been jailed.
Keith Farquharson told emergency services that Alice Farquharson, 56, had injured herself falling out of bed.
He claimed he had been out of the room at the time.
A murder investigation began after post mortem findings indicated her neck had been compressed.
Today he was ordered to at least 15 years imprisonment.
Farquharson, a former traffic officer from Aberdeen, claimed he had covered the victim's mouth with his hand to stop her screaming.
She was a pupil support assistant in a primary school and the pair had been married for 30 years.
He admitted having affairs with three women and said his wife did not trust him.
Passing sentence at the High Court in Glasgow today, judge Lady Stacey told him: "You took the life of a woman in her 50s. In doing so you deprived her of what would probably have been many more years of life. You deprived your two daughters and your son of their mother’s society. You deprived your wife’s mother and sister of her society.
"Nothing that I can do or say in court today can lessen the grief and anguish that your daughters and son and other members of your late wife’s family must feel."
Farquharson initially claimed he had found his wife lying in the bedroom after hearing a noise from the shower.
He later admitted that was untrue but said it the claim had been made while he was "in a state of shock".
He stated: "I felt guilty and did not want my family to know."
The judge said: "It is distressing that a man who has been in such a position should behave as you did and commit a very serious crime.
"Your late wife was in her own home where she should have been safe when you attacked her and took her life."
She went on: "You left your family not knowing the truth. What you have done has destroyed your family and taken away the trust that children should be able to have in their father."
Defence QC Ian Duguid said victim impact statements from the couple's children showed how "Mrs Farquharson was the centre of her children's lives". He went on: "They state the family unit has been shattered by these events.
"I do not think there is a better description."
In a statement, Mrs Farquharson's family said: "She was an incredibly kind and caring person, with a great love for life and the people in it.
"She was always thinking of others and put everyone else before herself.
"Our family will never be the same again and we cannot begin to describe the devastating impact this tragedy has had on us."
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