A parachutist accused of killing his girlfriend in bed in a free-fall instructor denied “killing her in a fit of rage so no one else could have her” after she rejected him.
The mother of three, Clair Armstrong, ordered 55-year-old Ashley Kemp to leave after three months of domestic violence after he was charged with the attempted rape of a teenager at work.
He took the headbutt from Clair, 50, so hard he broke her nose during the argument, but denied losing his temper. He claimed he couldn’t believe she was dead.
Today Kemp, also an instructor and pilot, sobbed as he described the mother’s final moments to the murder trial jury.
“I was shaking her. I called her name but got no answer,” he told Grimsby Crown Court.
Ashley Kemp (left), 55, accused of killing his girlfriend Clair Armstrong (right) as a free-fall in bed instructor, denied ‘killing her in a fit of rage so no one else could have her’ after she rejected him
“I went to get some tissues and tried to clean her face, expecting her to wake up when I did.
“When she didn’t, I assumed the worst. I covered her as best I could with the robe. Then I pulled the duvet up to her face.’
Clair, a formation skydiving instructor and owner of a beauty salon, was last seen alive on Friday 4 November last year after returning to her home in the Lincolnshire village of Messingham after an evening at the local pub with her family and Kemp.
One of the reasons the prosecution challenged Kemp’s version of events was that he was seen on CCTV on Saturday morning with marks on his face hours before he said the fight with Clair started.
He claimed the marks were not injuries, but that he had picked at his skin because it was dry from the skydiving.
Under cross-examination by prosecutor Richard Thyne KC, he agreed that he had told police that while he was strangling Clair, he was holding her – something he now denies.
Kemp took the headbutt from Clair, 50, so hard he broke her nose during the argument, but denied losing his temper
Today Kemp, also an instructor and pilot, sobbed as he described the mother’s final moments to the murder trial jury
“I didn’t know what I was saying or doing at the time. I was confused. I didn’t expect them to ask me that question,” he said.
The prosecutor claimed he said it because it was the truth and he was “trying to come back” because he knew his answers to the 999 operator made Clair sound “completely helpless.”
Mr Thyne told him, ‘What you did was kill Clair in a fit of rage. You lost your temper, didn’t you?’
He replied, ‘No. I just didn’t know what I was doing.’
Mr Thyne accused him: ‘If you didn’t get her, no one would. You took it out on her. How dare she tell you to leave. She was fighting for her life, wasn’t she?’
Kemp replied, “I thought she was still trying to attack me.
“And you continued?”
‘Yes.’
Clair, mother of three, ordered Kemp to leave after three months of domestic violence after being accused of attempted rape of a teenager at work
“After you killed her, didn’t you make an effort to call an ambulance to see if someone, a professional, could try to resuscitate her? No trouble at all?’
‘No.’
The jury was told that one of the reasons Kemp was on trial was that the Crown did not accept his claim that he killed Clair just two hours before he called police in the early hours of Sunday.
The prosecution believes she was killed much earlier, possibly early Saturday morning when she stopped reading and replying to messages from friends and fellow skydivers.
Mr Thyne told Kemp that according to witnesses ‘she tends to react quite quickly when she’s not skydiving’.
“She didn’t respond to messages all day—because she was dead, wasn’t she?”
“No,” Kemp replied.
One of the reasons the prosecution challenged Kemp’s version of events was that he was seen on CCTV on Saturday morning with marks on his face hours before he said the fight with Clair started.
He claimed the marks were not injuries, but where he was picking at his skin because he had developed dry skin from skydiving.
He admitted that he had “deliberately lied” when he told 911 that he was still at the address when he left in his car.
He also accepted that he had lied when he denied having guns on him because he had the kitchen knife with him.
After writing a suicide note, he told the jury that he intended to ride a truck while holding a kitchen knife to his heart.
His proof was that Clair was alive all Saturday, which she spent cleaning the house “like a Tasmanian devil” and the argument exploded at night as they were getting ready for bed.
Mr. Thyne said to Kemp, “You killed her in a fit of rage.”
He replied, “I killed Clair, but not in a fit of rage.”
“No tantrum?”
‘No.’
Kemp told Grimsby Crown Court (pictured): ‘I was shaking her. I called her name but got no answer’
The lawyer recalled Kemp’s original police statement and challenged him: “So you weren’t in a fit of rage when you used as much force as you could to ‘squeeze her neck for what seemed like an eternity.’
‘No.’
The murder case has been told that Kemp was fired as a manager of a skydiving center for gross misconduct after being accused of attempting to rape a girl at work.
At the time he killed Clair, he was out on bail while being investigated by police. No decision has yet been made on any charges.
Kemp has admitted manslaughter but denies murder. The trial was adjourned until Monday, when the jury is expected to retire to consider its verdict.
