Skydiver strangled girlfriend after 'attempted rape claim hurt relationship'
A skydiver killed his girlfriend and a mother-of-three after their relationship was put under strain when he was accused of attempted rape, a court heard.
Clair Armstrong, 50, was killed by her boyfriend Ashley Kemp, 55, on November 5 last year. He denied murdering her but confessed to manslaughter.
Clair, like Kemp, was a skydiving instructor and also owned a beauty salon in Messingham, Lincolnshire.
Richard Thyne KC, prosecuting, told Grimsby Crown Court that Kemp telephoned Humberside Police at 12.41am on Sunday, November 6 and said: "I've killed my girlfriend. We got into a fight and I ended up strangling her.
Ashley Kemp is accused of murder (Facebook)"She is upstairs on the bed in the main bedroom. We just had an argument, that was all, and it just got heated. She just started thrashing out and I just reacted. I never react... I pinned her down and just choked her."
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Kemp claims the incident happened about two hours earlier and police and paramedics arrived at the scene at 1.01am, GrimsbyLive reported.
Forensics on the scene at the house in Messingham (MEN MEDIA)Clair was found in the upstairs bedroom of her home lying on her bed in a dressing gown. There were injuries to her nose and forehead and there was blood on her collar.
Kemp is reported to have said "Who have I murdered?" when he was later found on a grass verge, after his vehicle crashed off the road. He was arrested on suspicion of murder.
'The prosecution case is that Ashley Kemp murdered Clair Armstrong,' Mr Thyne said (Ben Lack Photography Ltd)"There were also spots and drips of blood on the floor nearby," said Mr Thyne. She was pronounced dead. "The prosecution case is that Ashley Kemp murdered Clair Armstrong.
"Ashley Kemp accepts that he unlawfully killed Clair, by strangling her. However, he says that, when he did so, he did not intend to kill or to cause her really serious harm. He, therefore, says that his actions amount to manslaughter but not murder."
The pair met as members of The Drop Zone club in Hibaldstow and had been in a relationship since 2020.
Both skydiving instructors, the pair met as members of The Drop Zone club in Hibaldstow (Facebook)"It was through skydiving that she had met the defendant, who also worked at The Drop Zone as an instructor," said Mr Thyne. "The two of them had been in a relationship since around 2020.
"In the late summer of 2022, the defendant was informed that a teenage girl had made allegations of a sexual nature against him. He was arrested and interviewed about these allegations and he denied them.
(Facebook)"As things stand, no decision has been taken as to whether he is to be charged with any offence. In the days and weeks leading up to her death, Clair Armstrong had told friends that her relationship with the defendant was struggling due to his change of circumstances."
She had told a female friend, who ran a nearby gym, that she wanted some space. "We're always together," she said. "It's too much."
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Clair told a male skydiver that the relationship was strained and she could see herself being single again.
The trial continues.
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