Wooburn killer: 'My wife's affair sickened me to the core' (From Bucks Free Press)

John McGrory: 'My wife's affair sickened me to the core'

11:20am Monday 16th July 2012 in News By Lawrence Dunhill

TALL Glaswegian John McGrory met Marie Foster on a blind date in 1995, when his Scots Guards regiment was posted in Windsor.

The pair initially lived happily in a flat in Flackwell Heath, though seven years ago Marie gave a statement to police - saying McGrory would sometimes become aggressive, as well as drink and smoke cannabis regularly.

She accused her husband of grabbing her throat on three separate occasions, though police did not bring any charges or take any further action, Reading Crown Court heard.

In 2003, Marie had an affair and moved to Cumbria for eight months, but then asked McGrory to take her back.

The pair patched things up and soon got married, before moving to a three-bed house in Holtspur Avenue, Wooburn Green.

The court heard the house was ‘like a farm’, as the couple kept several pets including rabbits, guinea pigs, pigeons, chickens, a gecko and Staffordshire Bull Terriers.

McGrory had left the army and worked as a lorry driver for the food delivery firm 3663, which has a depot at Wooburn Industrial Park, while Marie worked as a care assistant at a nursing home.

Then in October last year, McGrory discovered Marie was having a second affair, with a man she met while visiting Glasgow, called Ed McGuinness, the court heard.

After McGrory was arrested he told investigators that Mr McGuinness is the same age him, has the same job, was also ex-army, and even supports his football team, Celtic.

But McGrory and his wife continued to live together and even slept in the same bed, the court heard.

According to McGrory’s interviews with psychiatrists, Marie would sometimes try to show him photographs of the new boyfriend and “rub my face in it… buy underwear and leave it on the bed for me to see it.”

The court heard there were also suggestions he would have to move out of their house to make way for Mr McGuinness.

McGrory told investigators: “What she says to me is she doesn’t love me, she loves him - fair enough.

“I don’t have a problem with that. I says to her if you want to be happy you pack a bag and you leave simple as that....If a woman starts an affair she leaves simple as that.”

He said he discovered the affair three days before their anniversary, adding: “I’ve been nothing but loyal to her for 16 years... that just sickened me to the core it really did.

“I got to some stages I just I couldn’t even look at her...just total disgust thinking ‘you put me through this again’.”

McGrory visited Cherrymead Surgery in Loudwater just days before the killing, because he was depressed and struggling to cope with his marital problems.

He was referred to an NHS mental health service and given a self-assessment form to fill out, but later missed a telephone appointment because he was asleep, the court heard.

The significance of these efforts to seek help brought a conflict of opinion between two leading psychiatrists, who both interviewed McGrory in the months leading up to the trial.

Dr Philip Hopley, appearing for the defence, thought there was “compelling evidence” he was suffering from a depressive disorder at the time of the killing, suggesting this would have reduced his ability to think clearly and exercise self-control.

But prosecution witness Dr Philip Joseph suggested McGrory was simply “a bit on the miserable side” because of his wife’s affair. He believed McGrory’s dominant emotions at the time of the killing were anger and betrayal.

See related links for a family tribute and stories about the trial.