Man guilty of wife's murder after holiday in Bournemouth

Katie Hurmuz-Irimia, 40, was found fatally stabbed at home in Wallingford in the early hours of August 30 last year.

Following a seven-day trial at Oxford Crown Court, Mihai Hurmuz-Irimia, 29, has been found guilty of murder.

He claimed he had gone “crazy” in a chilling 999 call after the killing where he told operators – “Hello, I think I've killed my wife.”

The trial heard the defendant and his wife had just returned from a trip to Bournemouth to celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary.

The victim had accused the defendant of “ruining” their seaside holiday with his drunken behaviour and told him their marriage would be “well and truly over” when they got home.

Hurmuz-Irimia killed his wife soon after.

Mihai Hurmuz-Irimia, aged 29, was convicted at Oxford Crown Court. (Image: Thames Valley Police)

Opening the case at Oxford Crown Court last week, prosecutor John Price KC said a pathologist had found the victim received 171 separate wounds.

Defence for Hurmuz-Irimia claimed his responsibility for killing his wife was ‘diminished’ due to mental illness.

Neither a doctor who assessed the defendant in custody nor two psychiatrists who saw him before the trial believed he was suffering from a serious mental illness, it was said.

The jury was also given details about two apparent suicide attempts by the defendant referred to in the 999 call.

The second came less than 48 hours before the alleged murder while the Hurmuz-Irimia family were in Bournemouth for the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Bournemouth beach

His wife’s texts revealed her apparent discontent with her husband, who Mr Price said had got very drunk, was going out to try and buy drugs and had left the hotel to go to a nightclub.

In a series of messages sent late on Saturday evening into the early hours of Sunday, the victim was said to have accused him of ‘ruining our holiday’.

“As far as I’m concerned we are over,” Mrs Hurmuz-Irimia wrote. “The minute we get to Wallingford our marriage is well and truly over.”

The defendant had stripped and walked from Bournemouth beach into the sea at around 3.30am on the Sunday morning and started shouting ‘help’, the jury was told. He was later rescued by a member of the public.

After the guilty verdict was reached on Tuesday, July 25, Judge Ian Pringle KC said: “I am going to sentence you on Thursday. The sentence will be one of life imprisonment but I need to set a term, a minimum term, which you need to serve before being eligible to apply for parole.”