The spouse of a twisted killer who murdered his first wife and asked his son to dig up her remains says she has “no regrets about marrying him”.

Depraved Andrew Griggs is serving a life sentence after killing pregnant mum-of-three Debbie and reporting her missing from the family home in Cross Road, Deal.

Following her disappearance in May 1999, his first wife’s remains were discovered in October 2022 buried 200 miles away in the back garden of a Dorset house, where Griggs had moved to two years after she was reported missing.

Before the gruesome discovery and after his murder conviction, the former fisherman tried to involve one of the couple’s three sons in an elaborate ploy to falsely prove she was still alive and provide him with an alibi.

He asked Jake Griggs to dig up his own mother’s remains and remove part of her hair, before travelling to another country and sending the sample and a letter professing to be from Debbie back to the UK between 2019 and 2022.

But the plot unravelled when his son went to the police and the dad-of-three was charged with further offences.

In March, Griggs admitted asking his son to carry out the heinous deed and pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice. He will be sentenced on June 2.

His current wife, also called Debbie, has vowed to stand by her killer husband and says she does not accept he is guilty – despite him currently serving a life sentence with a minimum of 20 years.

“I don’t believe any of it,” she told The Telegraph. “I don’t believe any of it. It goes against everything I know about him. I know him and I know he could not have done what they said he did.”

Debbie was 34 when she was reported missing by her husband from the family home in Cross Road, Deal, in May 1999.

Days later, her car – a white Peugeot 309 – was found abandoned little more than a mile away.

Her blood was recovered from the vehicle, but no further trace of her was found. Her bank accounts sat dormant and she did not interact with the health service or social security.

It left detectives in the initial investigation struggling to determine if nurse Debbie could still be alive.

It was not until 2019 that Griggs – who had remarried and moved to Dorset – was charged and put on trial accused of murdering his wife and disposing of her body.

The decision to finally bring charges was the result of evolving case law in cases where the body of the deceased had not been found, and the ‘proof of life’ investigations which cold case detectives used to show there was overwhelming evidence Debbie was not alive.

Mrs Griggs, 60, insists on her husband’s innocence despite having attended his trial at Canterbury Crown Court in 2019.

“I was there in court and I didn’t believe it because I know the person I married,” she added. “It went against what I know of him.”

Mrs Griggs regularly makes the four-hour round trip from her home near the New Forest village of St Leonards to visit her husband at HMP Albany on the Isle of Wight.

“Andrew has told me what actually happened with the whole thing. He’s maintaining his innocence,” she said.

“He didn’t murder his wife.

“Why wouldn’t I be happy with what he’s told me?

“The truth doesn’t change whatever is said in court.”

At the trial, prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC argued that the concealing of the whereabouts of Debbie’s body was “the most aggravating factor” of the case.

A jury at Canterbury Crown Court found Griggs guilty in October 2019, with a judge accusing the sailor of dumping Debbie’s body at sea.

Even after he was jailed, the couple’s three sons, aged six, four and 18 months when Debbie disappeared, continued to believe he was innocent and clung to hope their mum was still alive.

Griggs attempted to overturn his conviction, but his appeal was rejected in July 2022.

Just three months later, Debbie’s remains were found buried in the garden of the Dorset home he had moved to with their three boys.

At an inquest in March 2023, her family were told her cause of death would likely never be revealed.

The short hearing heard results from a post-mortem examination classed her death as unascertained, due to decomposition.

“Of course I miss him,” Mrs Griggs added.

“We’ve done everything together. I can’t speak for his boys, but I know they want to move on and put all this behind them. They have had enough.”