THE lead detective investigating the murder of Ann-Marie Pomphret has expressed his sympathy towards her daughter Megan as she witnessed the moment a jury found her dad, David Pomphret, guilty of the crime.

Speaking after the jury’s verdict at Liverpool Crown Court, detective inspector Adam Waller, said: “I can’t imagine what is going through Megan’s mind at this moment in time.

“She will clearly be absolutely devastated with the verdict.

“She will come to terms with what has happened I am sure, but there will be no satisfaction with what has happened. 

“Although the truth has come out, I don’t suspect she will take any satisfaction from that because ultimately it’s her father, who she was clearly very close to, and obviously her mother. 

“They were a loving family and at times the evidence would suggest that they were a close knit and a very affectionate family to each other.”

Megan, who is now 18, sat in the courtroom as the jury gave an unanimous guilty verdict against her dad. 

David Pomphret revealed no emotion.

Detective inspector Waller spoke about how David Pomphret was the one and only suspect throughout the entire investigation. 

He explained: “He was arrested at the very early stages of the investigation on suspicion of murder but clearly suspicion does not mean that you are guilty and there is a lot of work to do following that suspicion.

“In making the decision he did to dispose and destroy of evidence, to go to the lengths he did to cover his tracks and make it look like it was, for intents and purposes, the work of a stranger, and then consistently lying to the police for 15 suspect interviews, David Pomphret must have thought he was going to get away with it. 

“But what followed was a painstakingly detailed and methodical investigation and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the police officers and police staff involved in that investigation.”

The evidence that ultimately convicted the 51-year-old was a pair of socks he was wearing which had a spot of Anne-Marie’s blood on them.

Detective inspector Waller said: “The scale of the investigation was colossal, it was one of the largest Cheshire Police has seen in many years and that investigation had to be as meticulous and wide ranging as it was because David Pomphret had gone to the lengths he had to dispose of evidence. 

“But, as is the case in occasions where offenders choose to dispose or try to get away with it, they make mistakes and David Pomphret made a number of glaring omissions in his plan and one of those was the socks which had forensic evidence which linked him to the murder scene.”

This, detective inspector Waller said, was when Pomphret realised it was futile to carry on pretending he had not killed his wife and instead he resorted to pleading guilty to a lesser offence - manslaughter. 

While the prosecution admitted that Ann-Marie had a number of complicated mental and physical illnesses, detective inspector Waller said many people live with challenging individuals but this does not not mean they should be subjected to the brutal fate Ann-Marie suffered. 

Concluding his statement following the guilty verdict, detective inspector Waller used Pomphret’s own words against him.

He concluded: “David Pomphret said on his 999 recording, ‘what has my wife done to deserve this?’ and I would ask the same question.”