Age: 57 (77 after sentence)
Sex: male
Crime: murder
Date Of Sentence: 29 Oct 2019 (for 20 years)
End Of Full Sentence: 29 Oct 2039
Place: Walmer, Kent
Source: www.bbc.com
Andrew Griggs was convicted of the murder of his wife Debbie Griggs on 28 October 2019.
Debbie Griggs disappeared from their home on 5 May 1999 and was never seen again. Andrew Griggs said that Debbie Griggs had walked out on him. She was said to have been last seen by him when she left their home between 10am and 10.15am on 5 May 1999.
Her disappearance was considered an unsolved murder for 20 years.
The prosecution said that Andrew Griggs had murdered Debbie Griggs at their home and then either buried her, or disposed of her body at sea.
Her white G-registration Peugeot 309 car was found abandoned a week later in Walmer, 1.3 miles from her home. It was the family car, and was found to have had her blood in the boot.
She had been four-and-a-half months pregnant at the time and had four sons.
She had also previously committed herself to engagements for the time after she disappeared but didn't keep them.
When she disappeared she had had fair hair that was cut in a bob and was 5ft 8ins tall.
After her disappearance her husband moved to Dorset with their children although her parents remained in Deal.
Debbie Griggs's mother said that she was convinced that she had been murdered and the police said that they suspected foul play because she otherwise had no reason to run away.
On 12 March 2019, her husband was charged with her murder.
At the trial it was heard that Debbie Griggs had believed that Andrew Griggs had been having a sexual relationship and that if they had got a divorce that she would have been entitled to 50% of their fishmonger business. At the trial, the girl said that Andrew Griggs had groomed her whilst she was in a vulnerable position.
At the trial, Andrew Griggs had said that Debbie Griggs had been suffering from post-natal depression and had been having dark moods after the birth of their three children. However, her doctor said that she had displayed none of the signs or symptoms of depression in the weeks before she disappeared.
Andrew Griggs also said that Debbie Griggs had repeatedly threatened to walk out and on and had also told her children , 'I might as well go and kill myself'.
Debbie Griggs was not found until October 2022 after a tip of fled police to a property in St Leonards, Dorset where her remains were found in a garden. The remains found included teeth fragments.
