Claire Parry death: PC Timothy Brehmer has sentence increased

A married police officer who strangled his lover after she exposed their affair has had his prison sentence increased on appeal.

Timothy Brehmer was jailed for 10-and-a-half years after admitting the manslaughter of 41-year-old Claire Parry in Dorset on 9 May.

He had claimed she died accidentally during a "kerfuffle" in his car.

The Court of Appeal ruled that Brehmer's sentence should be increased to 13-and-a-half years.

Brehmer, of Hordle, Hampshire, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter ahead of his trial at Salisbury Crown Court, where a jury cleared him of murder.

The Attorney General's Office referred the case to the Court of Appeal under the unduly lenient sentence scheme.

The Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett said that sentencing judge Mr Justice Jacobs "gave too little weight to the aggravating factors he had identified".

He added that Mr Justice Jacobs had given too large a discount for Brehmer's guilty plea as it did not "reduce the impact of the crime upon victims" or save witnesses from having to testify.

"The offender's conduct and lies after the attack were reprehensible and calculated to deflect attention from what he had done," Lord Burnett said.

Attorney General Michael Ellis QC, who welcomed the increase in sentence, said: "Because of his actions, Claire Parry's family have lost a wife and mother, and her community have lost a dedicated nurse."

The trial heard Mrs Parry, a nurse who was married to another police officer, met the defendant outside the Horns Inn in West Parley to confront him about another of his extra-marital affairs.

Mrs Parry, who been been in a secret relationship with Brehmer for more than 10 years, took his phone before sending a text to his wife which said: "I am cheating on you."

Brehmer said he strangled Mrs Parry by accident during a "kerfuffle" in his car and that his arm "must have slipped in all the melee".

He later attempted to cover up his crime by using a knife to wound himself and claiming he had been stabbed by Mrs Parry, a statement he later retracted.

Footage from a police body-worn camera showed him covered in blood and crying in the minutes after he killed his victim.

The trial also heard from another woman he had an affair with, Det Con Kate Rhodes, who said Brehmer used "grooming" techniques to exert "coercive and controlling behaviour" over women.

Ms Rhodes said he had been a "womaniser" and described him by the nickname "Mr Smooth".

Mrs Parry's husband, Andrew, previously said he was "incredibly disappointed" after Brehmer was cleared of murder and branded the former police officer a "well-practised liar".

"He has shown himself - as the trial exposed - to be consistently dishonest, deceitful and devious," he added.

The Court of Appeal rejected an attempt by Brehmer's lawyers to have his jail term reduced.

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