'I have killed my wife': footage released of husband confessing to hammer murder before claiming he was the VICTIM

From the Newshound archive · first published 12 October 2026.

David Barraclough, 46, walked into a police station and quietly told officers he had killed his wife Carolann, 37, adding that her body was stored in a chest freezer at the couple's Horbury, West Yorkshire home. He had kept her there for two weeks after beating her to death with a claw hammer, and had sent messages from her phone to deceive her children into believing she was still alive. Leeds Crown Court sentenced him to a minimum of 21 years after a judge dismissed his domestic-abuse defence as a callous, self-serving lie.