22 STA-B WOUNDS… THEN A STORY THAT LEFT DETECTIVES STUNNED 💥 POLICE SAY WIFE’S SH0CK COVER-UP UNRAVELED AS THE TRUTH CAME TO LIGHT
WHEN Carol Croydon’s husband Philip was discovered dead in a hotel room, apparently the victim of a sex game gone wrong, she was distraught.
To the outside world they had been the perfect couple. They’d met and married in later life after a fairy-tale romance and with successful careers and no money worries they lived an affluent lifestyle that others could only dream of.
Carol Croydon, an accountant, stabbed her husband Philip Croydon with a cheese knife in a hotel roomCredit: PA:Press Association
Businessman Philip Croydon’s body was found in a Leicestershire hotel in 2003Credit: Leicestershire Police
So why was Philip in a hotel so far from home? Why was he indulging in bondage sex with a mystery woman? And who had stabbed him 22 times with a cheese knife?
But soon police began to suspect that Carol was far from the grieving, cheated widow who had no clue about her husband’s apparent secret kinky sex-life.
Instead she was a murderous mass manipulator who had staged the lurid scene at an airport hotel to cover her own tracks as a cold-blooded killer.
And she created a tangled web of lies, blaming others and changing her story over and over again to try to get away with murder.
The Hilton East Midlands Airport Hotel in Kegworth, Leicestershire, where Philip was found deadCredit: Raymonds Press Agency
Carol Nelson falsely accused her lover, Nelson Bland, pictured, of the murderCredit: Page One
Now a new true crime documentary, Britain’s Countryside Killers, reveals how CCTV footage uncovered Carol’s evil deception and helped bring her to justice.
True crime podcaster Mark Randell said: “She went with the intention of killing him, she went with the intention of ending that marriage through violence not through divorce.
“She performed a sex act on him then she lunged at him with that crude murder weapon and stabbed Philip 22 times, twice in the chest and at least 20 times in the neck and one of those injuries severed his spinal cord.
“He had arrived at that hotel full of hope that he was going to be able to save his marriage, but here he was face to face with the woman he loved realising that she was the woman who was going to murder him.”
Philip, 49, ran an upholstery business in Nottinghamshire and the couple lived in a beautiful detached house, where he was known for showering wife Carol with gifts.
They had met when Philip was in his 40s and Carol was in her 30s and it seemed he had found his happy ever after.
On April 25 2003, Carol rang Philip’s brother to say that she hadn’t seen Philip in a while and she thought he may be depressed.
His brother was so concerned that he rang the police and reported his brother missing.
CCTV showed a woman matching Carol’s description entering the hotelCredit: True Crime
True crime podcaster Mark Randell spoke on the new documentary about the crimeCredit: True Crime
But a maid from Hilton Hotel at East Midlands Airport soon made a horrifying discovery in room 328.
Journalist Rachel Smith explained: “Philip was on the bed, his hands had been shackled and he had a scarf around his eyes.”
Forensic psychologist Dr Ruth Tully said: “The scene put together suggested that some sexual activity may have gone wrong and led to the death of Philip.”
While the devastated family were grieving, the police and the pathologist started to piece together exactly what had happened.
Mark Randell explained: “The neck ties around his wrists had been tied after death. They were tied very tightly and there wasn’t any sign of bruising in that area.
And also when those ties were removed the skin didn’t react in the way expected had they been placed there when Philip was alive.
“It was also believed by the pathologist that the scarf around Philip’s head covering his eyes had been placed after death because it was noted that with this barbaric attack, this extreme struggle and vicious attack, the scarf would not have stayed in place.”
Dr Heng Choon Chan, Associate Professor of Criminology at Birmingham University explained: “In typical bondage scenes you see somewhat disorganised mess around the area, for example you would see a lot of accessories such as wrist restraints, a lot of different items lying around the room.
Philip’s mother Margaret (centre) and father Ted leave Nottingham Crown Court after Carol was found guilty of murderCredit: Raymonds Press Agency
Forensic psychologist Dr Ruth Tully also contributed to the documentary and claims Carol made it look like Philip’s death was ‘sexual activity gone wrong’Credit: True Crime
“But the scenes in that room were too organised and too controlled to be seen as a typical bondage scene. What stood out to me is the level of control and planning in the environment.”
CCTV footage from the hotel revealed some surprising details.
Philip had arrived at the hotel alone at 5.09pm. But later on in the evening shocked police saw Carol’s car drive into the hotel car park and a woman matching her description was seen entering the hotel.
Ruth Tully said: “Carol arriving at the hotel did not match the alibi that she gave police. She said that she had not seen him. It was inconsistent. What’s more Carol was seen leaving the hotel 40 minutes later, but she wasn’t in the same clothes. She had changed.
“Police knew that they urgently needed to speak to Carol and she was arrested on suspicion of murder.”
Carol’s initial story was that she had gone to the hotel to meet Philip for an arranged swingers session with a couple known only as Brian and Linda.
But she said that when she walked into room 328 she had cold feet she decided to walk away.
Police were keen to find ‘Brian and Linda’, but scouring the CCTV revealed nothing. Rachel Smith said: “Brian and Linda didn’t exist.”
A search of the couple’s home found a blood-stained plastic bag in a bin – and the blood belonged to Philip.
And detectives also found plane tickets for Carol and another man for a trip to Dublin, two days after Philip’s death.
A search of Carol’s phone revealed intimate messages between and a man called Nelson Bland.
Carol said he was merely a friend, a shoulder to cry on. But eventually had to admit she was in a relationship with him – and blamed him for Philip’s murder.
Mark Randell explained: “She said this man arrived at the hotel, walked into the hotel room where Carol was with Philip. Told Carol to leave and said I am going to sort this out.
Carol left and a few hours later she met up with her lover and he told her that she would never have to see her husband again.”
Carol then told a third version of events saying she was in the hotel room with Philip when Nelson Bland stormed into the room and stabbed Philip, and she watched him commit the atrocious murder.
Police immediately brought Nelson Bland in for questioning and there was absolutely no evidence that linked him to Philip Croydon’s murder and mobile phone data proved he was nowhere near the Hilton hotel at the time of the attack.
After 13 interviews over five days, Carol Croydon was eventually charged with her husband’s murder.
But to secure a conviction, they still needed to understand why. And Carol continued to change her story.
Mark Randell said: “This time she admitted to killing her husband Philip, and she was confronted with overwhelming evidence at this point so she had no choice to hold her hands up and say it was me that killed him.
“But Carol blamed something that happened in childhood for what happened in that hotel room. She said she had been physically and sexually abused in childhood.
“She had gone to the hotel room, Philip had asked her to tie him up and she had had a flashback to her childhood and had a moment where she reacted without thinking and said she came to next to Philip’s lifeless body.”
Police came up with the working theory that Philip had gone to the hotel that night to discuss their struggling marriage with Carol in the hope of getting it back on track
But footage from Carol’s workplace revealed she left at 4.58pm, but signed out at 5.20pm which bought her an extra 20 minutes to go to the hotel to execute her husband and get home at her usual time.
Police also discovered there was a missing item from Carol’s workplace – a cheese knife.
And a deep-dive into Carol’s background revealed some suspicious activity. She had faked her degree certificate as well as faking accountancy qualifications.
After the murder she had showered, changed into clean clothes that she had brought with her, suggesting premeditation and then met up with her lover Nelson Bland.
Rachel Smith said: “She had married this man. It makes you wonder what her intentions were when she married him. You would think if there was any love in that marriage she wouldn’t just be able to walk away and go and meet up with another man hours after killing her husband.”
When police looked at the motive it was clear – Carol was set to inherit a £300,000 house as well as life insurance in Philip’s name.
“It was a murder committed in greed,” said Rachel Smith. “The plans that Carol had made seem really quite straight forward. It seems that she wanted to kill her husband, pocket the money and disappear with her lover.”
But the plot thickened. While Carol was awaiting trial, her lover Nelson Bland left his wife and pledged his love and support for Carol.
Despite his support in court, the jury soon saw through Carol’s elaborate web of lies, seeing how she had offered no less than five separate versions of events about her husband’s murder.
It took just three hours for the jurors to come back with a unanimous guilty verdict.
Mr Justice Treacy, branded Carol a “cold-hearted and ruthless killer” and jailed her for life with a minimum term 15 years and two months.
Mark Randell said: “I don’t think Carol showed any genuine remorse throughout. She changed her story continually. She attempted to besmirch Philip’s reputation with his family and she knew the damages that would do. I think when she cried when the verdict was delivered, I think they were tears for her, not for Philip.”
SOURCE: https://www.the-sun.com/news/16695988/wife-stabbed-husband-cheese-knife-horrific-police/
