A FORMER Ipswich man has been found guilty of murdering his wife in a frenzied attack which left her with horrific wounds.

Colin Adwent

A FORMER Ipswich man has been found guilty of murdering his wife in a frenzied attack which left her with horrific wounds.

Five assessors in the Fijian High Court in Suva passed their unanimous decision on Raymond Singh at 4am GMT today.

The family of Wendy Singh, who lived with her husband in Grove Lane, Ipswich, before the couple moved to Fiji, said the mother-of-four sustained 79 wounds, nearly 60 of which were to her head, face and neck.

Mrs Singh, 39, was found at their home at Namadi Heights on May 11 last year after the couple had a heated argument over her son from a previous relationship. Raymond Singh had denied murder.

Mrs Singh's sister, Christine Stringer spoke of her anger at Singh: “I hate him, absolutely despise the man. For what he did and for him to stand there in court and say he was not guilty, that man can't have a conscience.”

During his trial Singh claimed he had acted in self defence to protect himself and the couple's eldest son Kaileb, who was three.

Singh, who was 29 at the time of the murder, told the court his wife had picked up a knife and threatened them.

He said: “I grabbed her hand with the intention of snatching the knife from her, but she wouldn't let go and kept pulling and shoving wildly as I struggled to get the knife off her. We fell down a couple of times.

“I tried to push her away from the children, but she stood up swinging the knife frantically as I stood between her and the children.

“She then grabbed my hair and we fell. I fell on top of her. I stood up, but felt dizzy and fell again, but got up and saw Wendy on the floor face down.”

After the verdict Singh, who had smiled and looked relaxed during the two-week trial, told reporters as he was led away from the court: “I am happy that my children are now safe.”

High Court judge Justice Daniel Goundar will deliver his sentencing judgment tomorrow.

Earlier in the trial the court heard Mrs Singh was found in a pool of blood with stab wounds to her chest, both sides of her neck, arms, face, nose and head.

Neighbours had heard screams of 'please, stop, stop', before seeing Singh leave the house with their two children Kaileb and Jahaan, who was only a few months old at the time.

The court was told 36 bloody footprints found in the kitchen belonged to Singh, a former sub editor with the East Anglian Daily Times, who had previously been convicted of domestic violence against his wife when they lived in Ipswich.

It was alleged Mrs Singh's murder occurred after a row over her plans to give money to her 15-year-old son George had spiralled out of control.

Mrs Singh also has a daughter, Claire, 18, from the same previous relationship.

The couple met in Fiji while Mrs Singh was on a college course.