Debt-ridden IT expert strangled his wife then checked into a hotel with condoms and a bottle of Prosecco from Waitrose and a blonde woman before trying to kill himself

A debt-ridden computer programmer strangled his supply teacher wife after they were ordered to leave their country home, then wrote a note to his four children saying he'd done a 'horrendous thing'. 

Stuart Andrews throttled 52-year-old Caroline in February, following months of tension over the family's rented bungalow in the Kentish village of Benenden.

The 54-year-old then went on the run and checked into a London hotel with a blonde woman before attempting to take his own life.

At Maidstone Crown Court today, Oxford-educated Andrews, who used to work for the Bank of England, admitted murder and the theft of £267,096 from his dementia-suffering father-in-law, over whom he had power of attorney.

Sentencing him to life with a 15-year minimum term, a judge said classics graduate Andrews had acted in a 'cold and clinical way' after an 'extreme loss of temper'.

Stuart Andrews (left) has pleaded guilty to the murder of Caroline Andrews (right) in Benenden, Kent

Oxford-educated Andrews, who used to work for the Bank of England, admitted murder and the theft of £267,096 from his dementia-suffering father-in-law

The couple had been married for 31 years and had four children: Charles, 26, an organist; Henry, 23, a graduate; Polly, 19, a student; and a 14-year-old daughter.

Prosecutor Philip Bennetts QC told the court today that Andrews had started getting into debt in 1995 and three years later had to sell the family home.

The family moved into the Benenden property in 2009, and Andrews had over time negotiated to buy it, but kept putting off the exchange, the court heard.

Eventually, the landlord gave them formal notice to quit, and they were told to leave by February 17 - about a fortnight before Mrs Andrews was killed.

Andrews - who worked for London-based consultancy firm Alix Partners - told his bosses in January that he was sick but gave his family the impression he was still going in to work.

The court heard Andrews murdered his wife in the early hours of February 4 at the property where they lived with two of their children and Mrs Andrews's father Donald Breeds. 

Mr Bennetts said Andrews later left a note in the car starting 'Dear Children' and going on to detail to them the 'horrendous thing' he had done to their mother.

Part of it read: 'It started as an accident when we were fighting but it went too far. Your mother was a beautiful, kind and caring person who loved you all.

'I let her down and ruined her life by being stupid with money and losing the house. Neither of us recovered from that. I love you too but I can't carry on living.

'All this is just my fault. Dad.'

The couple's £550,000 bungalow in the quiet village of Benenden became a crime scene in February when Mr Andrews went on the run following the discovery of his wife's body

Mr Bennetts said that after throttling his wife, Andrews told one of their children that their mother was unwell and she should not be disturbed.

After dropping the child off at Headcorn train station, Andrews then telephoned Hilden Oaks School and Nursery in Tonbridge where Mrs Andrews worked to say she was unwell.

Mr Bennetts said later that day Andrews caught a train with another one of their children from Headcorn to Charing Cross before they parted company.

Andrews deliberately left his phone on the train, shoving it down the side of a seat and timing a text message to be sent from it at 4pm to one of Mrs Andrews's friends.

The text to Heather Sheldon read: 'Heather, this is Stuart. I am sorry and, this is beyond belief, I have accidentally killed Caroline.

'In a second I will have killed myself too. The body is in our bedroom. Please do what you can to comfort the children.

'You should not have to deal with this but you were her best friend.'

Andrews gave her contact details for the children, as well as numbers for his mother and brother.

Ms Sheldon contacted police after receiving the message, Mr Bennetts said. And when officers arrived at the Andrews' home, 95-year-old Mr Breeds was at the property but did not respond.

After forcing entry, police found Mrs Andrews dead in the master bedroom dressed in her night clothes and with a small amount of blood on her head.

Mr Bennetts said Andrews later bought knives from Argos and a bottle of Prosecco and condoms from a nearby Waitrose.

Police discovered he had checked into the Rathbone Hotel in London with a woman called Amanda Carlton who the booking was made under.

In the early hours, Mr Bennetts said Andrews asked a member of hotel staff to let him and a blonde woman aged around 28 outside so they could smoke.

The discovery of Mrs Andrews's body sparked a huge manhunt in Kent, during which armed police officers boarded a train in Gillingham looking for him

At 3pm the following day, Andrews called reception and asked for an ambulance. Managers rushed up to find him covered in blood from knife wounds to his body.

When medics arrived, Andrews said: 'I've done something really bad. I've killed my wife.'

In the hotel room were several notes. One read: 'Christine, you are going to hear some pretty awful stuff about me. I just want you to know I'm not really a monster.

'We have been fighting so much and she was attacking me and goading me when the accident happened, and she died. I just blacked out.'

At St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, Andrews was arrested on suspicion of murder. He told an officer: 'No, I'm guilty. I'm not denying it. I want to be dead.'

Andrews told a psychiatric nurse that Mrs Andrews had accused him of being a failure and started hitting him before he 'snapped'.

In mitigation, Denis Barry, defending, told the court that Andrews had behaved in a 'grave and disgraceful' way towards his wife.

And he said: 'He apologises without reservation to Mrs Andrews' sister and father, and nothing I say can right the grave wrong to that family.'

Jailing Andrews - who showed no emotion as he was sentenced - Judge Jeremy Carey said the moments before the killing built up into a 'crescendo'.

Investigation: Police at Dover Priory station on Thursday as they searched for Oxford graduate Mr Andrews

He told him: 'Principally, by your own accounts, you did indeed snap, you struck your wife, which you should never have done.

'But rather than coming to your senses, you compounded your very serious actions by seizing her round her throat and, in what must have been a sustained attack ... you murdered her.

'You left her dead in your bedroom, a place where she was entitled to feel safe from harm, safe from the protection of her husband.'

Mrs Andrews' sudden death caused shock in the upmarket village, which is in the Weald area of the Kent countryside. 

Neighbour and retired chartered surveyor Derek Catlin, 71, said: 'They were very normal, very pleasant people. This makes us all feel very odd.'

Another local, Karen Callaghan, 49, said: 'It's very sad for the village. Everyone knows everyone round here. The locals have been here a long time.' 

Benenden Primary School headteacher Gill Knox said of Mrs Andrews' death: 'The tragic death of Caroline Andrews has left the staff at Benenden C of E School shocked and saddened.

'Caroline and her family live in the village and are well known at the school. Caroline has been a loved and well-respected supply teacher for a number of years who has enriched the lives of the many children she taught.

'At the present time we cannot comment on what has happened but our thoughts and prayers are with her family and all who knew her and will miss her.'