'Cynical and cruel': Judge speaks out as she jails a woman for life for murdering her husband at her Shropshire home after 'deception'

Amy Pugh, 34, of Stafford Road, Wolverhampton, was sentenced at Stafford Crown Court this morning (Friday, September 5), having been found guilty of murdering Kyle Pugh following a trial in June.

Pugh had inflicted severe neck compressions on her estranged husband Kyle Pugh, at her home in Newport on March 22, 2022.

Mr Pugh, who was 29 and from Telford, died in hospital in the days following the incident.

But Pugh told the emergency services, Mr Pugh’s family, and the police that he had hanged himself.

The court had heard that Pugh said she was aware of her husband’s injuries from 8.45pm - but failed to call 999 until 9.04pm - having made a number of telephone and video calls to her father before calling an ambulance.

Sentencing, Judge Kristina Montgomery, said Mr Pugh had been a “cherished son” and added: “He is mourned by his family who have had to try to come to terms with his death in the context of your callous deception over how it was caused.”

She said the lies had taken an “unimaginable toll” on his family.

Judge Montgomery addressed the nature of the relationship between the couple saying it was “described by everyone as toxic”.

She said the court had heard of volatile rows and frequent altercations between the pair, with violence becoming the norm.

The court had previously heard of incidents where Mr Pugh had broken his wife’s jaw, and had dragged her by her hair in front of friends at a barbecue.

Judge Montgomery said: “As your relationship deteriorated the boundaries between victim and aggressor blurred. 

“I accept violence was introduced to your relationship by Kyle Pugh and I have heard of two serious incidents in which you were caused significant injury but there came a point by your own admission when you began to deploy your own verbal and physical aggression.”

She said Pugh had decided to “fight fire with fire”.

Judge Montgomery said Pugh had become fixated on getting back together with her husband - even though Mr Pugh had a new partner.

She said: “By the end of March 2022 you and he were separated, although you had hope that he would return to live with you in spite of his new formed relationship.

“According to witnesses you were fixated with Kyle Pugh and feared your life without him.”

Speaking about the day Pugh fatally injured her husband, Judge Montgomery said he had visited her home and she had ‘manipulated the situation’, and had ‘introduced alcohol to the equation’.

She said that had brought “unresolved tensions to the surface”.

She said an argument had begun about “post separation relationships” but “instead of breaking that pattern by calling an end to the evening you chose to procure more alcohol to continue it”.

She added: “Kyle Pugh had no intention of reuniting with you that night.”

Judge Montgomery said that when Pugh returned from the shop with more alcohol Mr Pugh had for some reason told her that his new girlfriend was pregnant - the trial previously heard evidence from the girlfriend who categorically denied being pregnant with Mr Pugh’s child.

Judge Montgomery said the comment had sparked a heated argument during which she struck Mr Pugh, breaking his nose and his eye socket.

She added: “Then you compressed his neck by using either a chokehold or your forearm against his neck.

“Such force was applied by that that you restricted the blood flow to his brain and he quickly slipped into unconsciousness and suffered a cardiac arrest.”

She added: “Your reaction was not to summon the emergency services but to call your father. You spoke with him over a number of telephone and video calls before ringing 999.

“It was over the course of those calls that you must have decided to concoct a lie and stage a suicide and blame Kyle Pugh for his own injuries.”

Judge Montgomery said she accepted the actions were likely in panic with Pugh “taken aback” at the consequences of her actions.

But she said the failure to call the emergency services had impacted his chances of survival.

She said: “It is safe to say had you called for help sooner the likelihood of that saving Kyle’s life would have been greater.”

In the aftermath Judge Montgomery said that despite the shock, Pugh was “composed enough to tell cohesive lies”, describing the “cynical and cruel” impact on Kyle’s family.

She added: “Those lies played on Kyle’s vulnerabilities and miscast him as a selfish and thoughtless attention seeker.”

She continued: “Your deception has caused Kyle Pugh’s family significant additional suffering.

“To suggest he took his own life and exploit his mental health difficulties had been an unbearable post script to his life.”

Judge Montgomery said there were aggravating factors - her previous conviction for burning Mr Pugh’s workshop, her actions in disposing of his phone in the wake of his death, but added that there were also mitigating factors in her favour - particularly the experience of domestic violence towards her which may have led her to escalate her own actions for fear of coming off worse.

She said: “You instigated that violence fuelled by desperation and anger but having done so you may have considered you may come off worse in the violence that followed.”

Pugh was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 14 years, minus 288 days already spent on remand.