Husband and wife starved their live-in landlord, 59, to death to inherit a third of his £3.5m estate, court hears

A husband and wife starved their 'vulnerable' live-in landlord to death to inherit a third of his £3.5million estate, a court heard today.

Lynda, 61, and Wayne Rickard, 64, are accused of murdering James 'Anthony' Sootheran, 59, who was found dead at his home in South Newington, Oxfordshire.

Mr Sootheran, who once weighed 17 stone but had become a shell of his former self, was discovered by a doctor in 2014 who had called in to check on his health.

The Rickards are on trial alongside Michael Dunkley, 48, Denise Neal, 39, and Shanda Robinson, 50, who are charged with fraud. All five deny the charges.  

Oliver Saxby QC, prosecuting, told Reading Crown Court the case involved 'casual, opportunistic greed' that developed into 'something utterly routine and brazen'.

He said the alleged victims in the case, Mr Sootheran and his mother Mary Joy Sootheran, who suffered from dementia prior to her death aged 92 in August 2012, were reliant on Mrs Rickard for care, but were ultimately 'exploited' by her.

 

'She was eyeing a windfall,' Mr Saxby said. 'That windfall came to be dependent on Anthony Sootheran's death. And she got impatient, and worried that the windfall might elude her.'

The court heard that Mr Sootheran, who owned High Havens Farm in South Newington, had 'complex' mental health issues and was a recluse who was prone to self-neglect.

His mental health gave Mrs Rickard 'the perfect cover for precipitating his death', Mr Saxby said.

'She achieved (this) by isolating him, utterly neglecting him, failing to obtain appropriate medical care for him and ultimately, depriving him of food and drink.

'In the simplest of terms, assisted by her husband, she starved him to death, thereby securing for herself and her family the windfall she craved.'

He said Mrs Rickard had already admitted forging the wills of Mr Sootheran and his mother. 





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