'Evil' husband gets 19 years for frenzied knife murder

Published on Friday 5 September 2008 23:00

A FORMER accountant who murdered his wife by stabbing her 86 times has been put behind bars for at least 19 years.

David Lilburn, 45, who claimed a ''black shadow'' had told him to carry out the killing, was branded "wholly evil" by the judge who sentenced him at the High Court in Glasgow.

The savage attack on 43-year-old Ann at their home in Paisley, Renfrewshire, on 29 July last year, happened as Lilburn went through a mid-life crisis.

He denied murder, but a jury found him guilty in July. Yesterday, the couple's three children – David Michael, 26, Paul, 25, and Laura Ann, 19 – sat only a few feet from their father as the judge, Ian Peebles, QC, told him: "This was a truly horrific crime, and you murdered your wife in a most brutal fashion.

"This behaviour to your wife – who was completely blameless – seemed to me was based on entirely selfish motives.

"Your behaviour showed utter heartlessness and can be described as wholly evil."

He jailed Lilburn – who appeared in the dock in a wheelchair – for life and said he would serve at least 19 years before he could apply for parole.

The court heard the couple had enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle, with a Jaguar car and a 4x4 jeep in the driveway as well as regular holidays abroad.

But last June, Lilburn, who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder, went through a form of mid-life crisis. He spent thousands on new teeth and began taking hair-replacement pills. He also started going to the gym up to six times a week and regularly visited tanning salons.

He then embarked on an affair with a 43-year-old divorcee after answering her advert in a newspaper's lonely hearts column. His wife, a devout Catholic, found out and eventually consulted lawyers about a divorce.

Lilburn was later sent a letter demanding that he leave the family home for the sake of his wife and daughter.

This left him fuming – and it was to lead to the brutal attack on his wife.

In the early hours of 29 July, Lilburn had gone to sleep in the marital bed, despite it being agreed that he should use a spare room.

He had earlier been out celebrating his birthday with his mistress, and the court heard his wife had arrived home and that a row had erupted. Raging, Lilburn repeatedly banged her head against a door frame and the floor.

She managed to text her son Paul stating: "Came home at 2.15. Lockd out the house. Then let in and assaultd."

Meantime, Lilburn stormed downstairs and grabbed four knives from the kitchen which he used to stab his wife 86 times.

The jury was played the harrowing 999 call in which Ann could be heard pleading for Lilburn to stop.

Moans and groans were interrupted by Lilburn striking her with the blades.

After the attack, he stepped over his wife's blood-soaked body and went for a shower. When police arrived, he answered the door to them wearing her dressing-gown.

Lilburn told police he had no memory of any attack and that he believed his wife was still alive. He claimed the last time he had gone near a knife was to cut a grapefruit the previous morning.

During the trial, however, he admitted killing his wife and said a mysterious "black shadow" had telepathically told him to do it. "It was repeated. It was egging me on," he said.

He claimed his mental health had been suffering in the lead-up to the attack and that he had felt a "sense of foreboding".