Debbie Griggs, who was an auxiliary nurse was four months pregnant when she mysteriously disappeared from her home in Deal, Kent in the middle of the night on May 5, 1999.
Her husband Andrew, 62, tried to blame post-natal depression – said his 34-year-old wife had walked out on him and their three young children whom she adored, even though she was not suffering from the condition at the time.
What’s The Truth?
Meanwhile, the controlling businessman had been having an affair with a 15-year-old girl and told friends he wished his wife was dead.
In 2019 Griggs was convicted of her murder and jailed for life.
But the whereabouts of his wife’s body was unknown at the time, with the judge in the case saying he suspected the killer had dumped her body at sea.
The father-of-three has now admitted that he had asked one of his sons to help him dupe police into thinking she was still alive after he was jailed for the murder.
Canterbury Court Heard That…..
The convicted killer made a request from prison between November 2019 and October 2022 that his son secretly dig up the remains and remove a sample of hair from his mother’s body.
In an elaborate ploy to establish his innocence, Griggs instructed his son to travel abroad and send the sample of hair and a letter professing to be from Debbie back to the UK in a bid to convince police she was still alive.
In the event, Debbie’s body was not found by police until 2022 when police acting on ‘new information’ dug up the back garden of a Dorset property Griggs moved into in 2001.
Griggs now has admitted perverting the course of public justice at Canterbury Crown Court.
The killer appeared via video link at from HMP Isle of Wight where he is serving a life term for his wife’s murder.
Griggs is also accused of obstructing a coroner in the execution of their duty, but has not yet entered a plea to the charge.
Following Griggs’ conviction for murder, his sons continued to believe he was innocent, launching a Facebook page in 2020 appealing for help in tracing their mother whom they believed was still alive.
