Husband murdered wife and dumped body in chest freezer before sending texts to her children to make it look like she was still alive

Published: 11:02 EDT, 9 October 2026 | Updated: 11:36 EDT, 9 October 2026 A husband who bludgeoned his wife to death with a claw hammer and hid her body in a chest freezer used her phone to send texts to her children pretending she was still alive.David Barraclough, 46, beat Carolann Barraclough, 37, around the head in their bedroom while her children were in the house then bound her with packaging tape, wrapped her in a duvet and placed her body in a freezer in their utility room.After killing the mother-of-three at the property in Horbury, West Yorkshire, on February 20, he began searching online for escorts, using the dating app Tinder and spending her money in local pubs, Leeds Crown Court heard on Friday.Barraclough maintained the deceit for almost two weeks while her body remained in the freezer, even texting his wife’s daughter from her phone, claiming she was recovering from an illness in hospital.He eventually walked into a police station on March 5 to confess to killing his wife – only to claim he had ‘snapped’ after suffering years of domestic abuse.Barraclough told officers she was 'in the freezer' at his home, adding that he was ‘a victim’ and a '17-stone boy no one will believe'.Jailing him for a minimum term of 21 years and six months after he pleaded guilty to murder on the first day of a scheduled trial, Judge Andrew Stubbs KC said his account of abuse was a 'callous' self-serving cover story.'He spun a web of lies and deceit to explain his wife's disappearance, telling his children and others that she was unwell and receiving treatment, providing updates and further explanations, and sending messages from her phone to perpetuate this fiction,’ he said. Carolann Barraclough, a mother-of-three, was murdered by her husband in February David Barraclough pleaded guilty to murder on the first day of his trial and has been jailed for 21 years‘He even allowed her daughter to exchange messages with her mother's phone in the belief that she was communicating with her, rather than with him.’Mrs Barraclough, described by her sister Sarah Rowley as 'the bright light of our family', was last seen alive outside her home on February 19.The following day she was described as looking 'pale, miserable and terrified' with Barraclough looking 'really, really, really scary'.Children at the address were made to believe that the pair subsequently left together for hospital.However, prosecutors say Barraclough murdered his wife in a bedroom before driving away alone at 10.03am. A minute earlier, he had searched online for an escort in Wakefield offering sexual services.In a victim-impact statement, Ms Rowley added: ‘Her children were the centre of her world. She loved being a mum. The void of her absence is agonisingly loud.‘It is incredibly painful to see how he targeted her loving and social nature.'Slowly and calculatingly he isolated her from the people who loved her the most and created barriers to slowly stop us from seeing her or staying connected to her.'Barraclough refused to appear in the dock for his sentence. Under new legislation known as ‘Olivia’s law’ defendants can now be brought to court using reasonable force or jailed for not attending, however these powers are not yet in force.Following the sentence, Jill May, senior crown prosecutor for Yorkshire, said: 'David Barraclough tried to paint himself as a victim of domestic abuse who had no choice but to kill his wife and was heartbroken by what had happened.‘The evidence told a very different story.’