A murderer has for the first time been accused of dumping his wife's body at sea 20 years ago.

Pregnant Debbie Griggs disappeared from the Deal home she shared with Andrew in 1999 and has not been seen since.

Police arrest Andrew Griggs

Today, 57-year-old Andrew was jailed for life and told he must serve a minimum of 20 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of her murder.

After jailing him Lord Justice Spencer told Griggs: "You somehow disposed of her body in the early hours of the morning.

"I strongly suspect that you dumped her body at sea.

"As an experienced sailor and former deep sea fisherman you knew that stretch of coast like the back of your hand.

"It would not have been difficult to weigh her body down so that it sunk without a trace."

He added: "They (Debbie's three children) were her pride and joy, they were her life. She would never have left them of her own free will.

"She was also four-and-a-half months pregnant with your fourth child. In murdering your wife you destroyed the life of that unborn child as well.

"I have no doubt whatsover that from the late summer of 1998 through to the spring of 1999 you were in a full sexual relationship with that young (15-year-old) girl.

"You groomed her, you took advantage of her emotional vulnerability. You were obsessed by her."

The judge added there was a "degree of pre-meditation" and Griggs "bided his time" before the final confrontation.

The potential of Debbie outing Griggs over his relationship with the girl accompanied with her joint ownership of the freezer business were the motive for the murder, the judge added

He continued: "You have built your relationship with your new partner and her family on a lie.

"They and your children will have to come to terms with that dreadful reality. So will you.

"They are victims too, innocent victims of your callous criminality.

"You have shown no remorse whatsoever. True remorse would have been shown only by a guilty plea and by disclosure of where you concealed the body."

"I strongly suspect that you dumped her body at sea..." — Lord Justice Spencer

The prosecution had argued Griggs carried out the crime after Debbie found out about an affair he was having with a 15-year-old.

But Griggs insisted she had left the family home in a rage after he came home from work and fell asleep.

Her car - a white Peugeot 309 - was found abandoned days after her disappearance, 1.3 miles from their home in Cross Road, Walmer.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC explained Debbie’s blood was recovered from the vehicle.

He said the couple's relationship had become strained and sometimes violent after Debbie suspected Griggs’ alleged affair with the girl, forcing the pair to split.

There has been no trace of Debbie, or signs of life since her disappearance between May 5 and 6 1999.

There has been no reported activity on her bank account, no medical appointments or contact with government departments - the DWP for example.

At today's sentencing hearing prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC argued Griggs concealing Debbie’s body was “the most aggravating factor” of the murder.

That Debbie was pregnant and vulnerable - her unborn child was killed - alongside Grigg’s sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl, were also cited.

He told Judge Spencer: “There is only one person in the room who knows how Debbie died.”

Defending, Nicholas Lobbenberg QC agreed with the aggravating features, adding the sentence should be 15 years.

“There is no dispute between the parties as to the structure,” he told Judge Robin Spencer.

The barrister argued Grigg’s age, previous good character and his “poor health”, a spine degenerative disease, were mitigating factors.

“If you throw a stone into a pond the ripples don’t go in one direction,” he added.

The barrister added his partner Debbie’s world, and her children and Griggs’ children, “was shattered.”

Debbie's father Brian Cameron said in a victim impact statement: “My wife and I could never understand how she could just disappear and there hasn’t been a day go by when I haven’t wondered what happened to her.

“We both (deceased wife Pat) thought she was dead, we organised a memorial for Debbie when she was deemed legally dead.

“I think Debbie was her (Pat’s) best friend.

“As much as she tried I don’t think she was ever quite the same when Debbie disappeared. “Not only did we lose Debbie but we lost other family too.

“He told of his regret how the family drifted apart, that their future grandchild had been killed and saw their grandchildren less, and eventually not all.

“It is only now that we have attempted the process of reconciliation.

“The worst thing has been not knowing where Debbie is. We have no grave to go to, no place to grieve or pay our respects.”

He added it has been “painful” not knowing what happened in Debbie’s “final moments” but the family has gathered some solace now justice has been done.

The court previously heard the couple ran Griggs Freezer Centre in South Street Deal together at the time she disappeared.

On March 2 1999, days before Debbie vanished, Griggs set their joint business bank account up in just his name.

He claimed this was because she had taken the company check books, but under cross examination the prosecutor told the court he had done this before she took them.

In a diary, she described him as “bombastic and bullying” and said that he “has a bad temper and if things do not go his way he gets very nasty,” though she said he had not actually hit her, the court heard.

Extracts from an affidavit, written by Debbie that year, were also read to the jury.

"Everything we have together is in fact his, and I am only allowed to enjoy anything that is a joint matrimonial asset by reason of being with him.

"He does not let me go out by myself. His needs come first. He tells me I am sick and mad in the head," it said.

It went on to claim Griggs kneed her in the stomach while she was pregnant.

The court previously heard weeks before Debbie vanished, Griggs told a welder he "wished she was dead".

Griggs told Peter Monks, who ran Fabweld Services in Deal, he was suffering "money problems in relation to his wife".

Discrepancies in his police statements were told to the court, including testimonies from two neighbours who claimed they saw Debbie's car reversing from the drive at 2pm and again at 4pm, that time leaving the garage door open. It was closed a few hours later by morning.

Griggs, now remarried and living in St Leonard's, was charged with Debbie's murder on March 12 this year.

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