Life for 'crocodile tears' killer

13 April 2012

Garry Malone, the husband who made an emotional television appeal for help in finding his missing wife Sharon, was today jailed for life for her murder.

Malone killed 28-year-old Sharon at their Hertfordshire home in November 1999 and hid her body in a drain at a local park.

He then cried crocodile tears at a news conference where he claimed Sharon had walked out and appealed for help in getting her back.

But before her body was found in March 2000, Malone fled the country to Spain with his two young sons and changed his name.

He was extradited last year and found guilty last week at the Old Bailey of murder.

Sentencing him today, Judge Stephen Kramer told Malone, 50, that he was "manipulative, calculating and deceitful".

Judge Kramer said Malone had attacked the trainee teacher by hitting her over the head at least four times with a blunt object in their bedroom.

Hoping her body would never be discovered, he had carried out "a sustained and dishonest pretence that Sharon had disappeared and you expected her to come back.

"You even made a television appeal for her return.

"You not only snuffed out a young, promising life, you also deprived your sons of their mother."

Malone, said the judge, had shown no remorse and was a person who used others for his own ends.

Malone, who stood in the dock in a smart suit, showed no emotion as he was told he would have to serve a minimum of 18 years.

His former lover, Paula Geddes, 34, of Barnet, Herts, was found guilty of perverting justice by lying to the police to help Malone. She was remanded on bail for sentence on June 10.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in