Man jailed for killing of wife and lover

A MAN who stabbed to death his wife and her lover after watching them having oral sex in his living room was jailed for seven years at the Old Bailey yesterday.

Victor Temple, for the prosecution, said that Leslie Tobutt, 42, a British Airways electronics engineer, inflicted more than 50 stab wounds on his wife Kate, 37, and Noel Neville, 29, a bricklayer.

Tobutt, a father of three, told police he 'just went wild' after seeing the couple through a chink in the curtains. He was only two feet away and overheard his wife telling Mr Neville details of the marriage, which offended him.

Mr Temple told Judge Kenneth Machin: 'He was seeking to blot out the reality of what he saw.'

Tobutt, of Woodlands, Pinner, north-west London, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter, by reason of dimished responsibility, of his wife and Mr Neville on 4 February. His pleas of not guilty to murder were accepted.

Mr Temple said Tobutt pretended to go to work on the late shift on 4 February but parked his car near by and hid in the garage. He knew that his wife, a nurse, was reinstituting proceedings for a divorce.

Mr Neville arrived at about 11pm and 40 minutes later a neighbour alerted police after hearing a row.

Mrs Tobutt's last moments could be heard on the tape of the 999 call, to a background of screaming and shouting. When police arrived, Tobutt told them: 'I have killed them, I have killed them.'

Conrad Seagroatt QC, for the defence, said: 'This was a marriage lacking mutual love and had been for some time, perhaps even from the beginning.'