(Image: Leeds Crown Court)
A husband who beat his wife to death with a claw hammer before hiding her body in a chest freezer has been jailed for life.
David Barraclough, 46, must serve a minimum of 22 years and one month for the murder of his 37-year-old wife, Carolann Barraclough, at their home in Horbury, Wakefield.
Leeds Crown Court heard that he killed her while she lay in bed and stored her body in the freezer, wrapped in a duvet, with her hands and ankles bound.
Barraclough then used her phone to send messages to her daughter, pretending she was still alive and recovering in hospital.
He also emptied their bank account, used dating apps, and contacted escorts during the two-week period before confessing.
All three children were also present in the house at the time of the attack.
On March 5, Barraclough handed himself in at Normanton Police Station, claiming to be a victim of domestic abuse.
Detective Inspector Tom Hilyer of West Yorkshire Police said: "David Barraclough is a very manipulative and calculating individual who not only brutally killed his wife, but then went to extreme lengths to fabricate a defence that suggested he wasn’t responsible for what he had done."