Yvonne McCann murder: Killer dumped his wife's body 'like garbage'

A jealous husband who murdered and dismembered his wife following a row about frozen chips has been jailed for at least 13 years.

Thomas McCann strangled his 46-year-old "childhood sweetheart" Yvonne at their home in Stockport on 23 May 2020.

The pair, who were married 24 years, had argued about a £3 bag of chips left out of the freezer.

McCann, 49, cut up the body before dumping it in a country park "like garbage", Manchester Crown Court heard.

The truck driver was sentenced after pleading guilty to murder at an earlier hearing.

Passing sentence, Judge Alan Conrad QC told him: "Your actions after the killing amount to serious aggravating factors.

"The defence suggest a combination of self-interest and panic, but what you did makes a terrible case even more horrific and even more upsetting to those concerned.

"Yvonne McCann was a woman with a great deal to live for and a great deal to look forward to when her life was so cruelly cut short by you."

The couple, who had four children, met as teenagers and had been together for 32 years in total, the court heard.

But Mrs McCann began to see another man around 2013, leading to her husband's jealousy and relationship breakdown.

Following his arrest he told police he was "Hannibal Lecter" and had "killed my wife and disposed of her like garbage" after he "lost control and could not stop".

Parts of her body were discovered by dog walkers in Reddish Vale Country Park on the following Bank Holiday Monday.

The last sign of Mrs McCann alive was a text message sent to a neighbour referring to the row over the chips.

McCann was later captured on CCTV leaving the house on Rosslave Walk, Brinnington, to collect items from his employer's tipper truck.

The same day he used his wife's mobile phone to send and reply to text messages from their children, saying they had had a row and his she had walked out.

He was later captured in footage carrying bin bags to his car and also walking towards the country park.

McCann claimed to have last seen his wife after dropping her off near the home of her new partner.

Shortly afterwards he was found to have scratches to his cheek, arms and hands and was arrested.

Andrew Smith, prosecuting, said: "Seemingly the trigger was some used frozen chips.

"During that argument it is now clear that the defendant attacked Yvonne, strangled her to death in the bathroom and thereafter he dismembered her body in the bath."

In a statement from Mrs McCann's children, Rachel Lawson, her daughter, said: "We are all really struggling with this. We love our mum very much, we also love our dad."

Louise Blackwell QC, mitigating, said McCann had not planned the killing and had no history of violence, but the row "blew up".

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