How sick killer murdered wife, told kids she'd walked out then convinced son to dig her up in evil plot to evade justice
ANDREW Griggs had been expecting the knock on the door for more than 20 years.
When it finally came, he showed no surprise as detectives arrested him for the 1999 murder of his wife Debbie, 34.
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By then, the former fisherman had a new life and wife in another part of the country with the three sons he fathered with Debbie.
The former nurse was pregnant with a fourth boy when Griggs murdered her at their home in Deal, Kent, as sons Jeremy, then six, Jake, four, and 18-month-old Luke slept upstairs.
Griggs later brainwashed the boys into believing their mother had deserted them and ran off.
But Debbie was, in fact, just a few feet away.
Hours after killing her, Griggs put her body in a plastic water butt which he sealed with fibreglass.
He hid the body in the drum for two years in his parents' back garden.
When the Griggs family moved from Kent to Dorset in 2001, he took Debbie's body with him inside the water butt.
He buried her under a concrete shed base beneath a lean-to at the side of their house in the village of St Leonards, near Bournemouth.
And for years she remained there as Griggs played happy families with his sons and second wife — also named Debbie — who he met in 2005.
The appalling secret emerged after Griggs was convicted of Debbie's murder in October 2019 and jailed for life with a 20-year minimum tariff.
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Days after his conviction, Griggs concocted a plan to clear his name.
'He manipulates people around him'
He tried to enlist the unwitting help of middle son Jake, now 25, to unearth his mother's remains.
During a prison visit, he asked Jake to cut off a lock of her hair, travel to France and post it to UK authorities with a note purporting to be from Debbie saying she was alive and wanted to be left alone.
He lied to Jake that he had found Debbie's body in their old back garden and feared his late father — Jake's paternal grandfather — had murdered her.
Jake deprived his own grandad of the opportunity to bury his daughter and then took money from his will, all the while knowing where his mum was.
Debbie's brother Wayne Cameron
Griggs also told his son he created the subterfuge about Debbie leaving them as he feared being framed for her murder.
For almost three years, Jake kept his father's twisted request a secret before he blurted it out to his girlfriend during a row.
Jake and his girlfriend consulted his stepmother and the trio went to the local police to report it.
In the meantime, Debbie's father Brian Cameron passed away in 2021, two years after wife Patricia died 'from a broken heart' without seeing justice for their daughter.
Griggs, now 68, was branded a conniving narcissist by a judge this week as he was given a further three years for perverting the course of justice.
Debbie's brother Wayne Cameron, 57, said his family believe his nephew Jake should have been in the dock with Griggs.
Wayne told The Sun: 'Jake deprived his own grandad of the opportunity to bury his daughter and then took money from his will, all the while knowing where his mum was.
'No one can understand why he did not come forward sooner.'
He added: 'As a family, we believe charges need to be brought against Jake.
'In some ways I feel for him.
'He was just a four-year-old boy when this happened, but he's an adult now and he should know better.'
Perhaps in a subconscious state of denial, Jake continued to refuse to accept his father's guilt even after Griggs owned up to burying his mum at their house.
After their father's conviction, Jake and his brothers had launched a misguided 'Find Our Mum' Facebook appeal to prove Debbie was still alive.
To this day, Griggs' family continue to support him, with second wife Debbie saying: 'I know him and I know he could not have done what they said he did.'
DCI Neil Kimber, of the Kent Police cold case review team, describes Griggs as a 'very brash and forceful character.'
The detective adds: 'He has charisma and charm and manipulates people around him.'
Griggs was married to Debbie for nine years before murdering her.
He cheated on her with a 15-year-old girl and extracts from Debbie's diary reveal she was suspicious about the relationship.
Debbie also wrote of the control Griggs exerted, saying: 'He does not let me go out by myself.'
In March 1999, after Debbie became pregnant with their fourth child, Griggs walked out on her and their children.
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Debbie — who had suffered from post-natal depression after her first two children — worked for the Griggs family frozen fish business.
Griggs was sole beneficiary of the firm and consulted a solicitor on the financial implications if he divorced.
He was told Debbie would be entitled to half the business and house which prompted him to go back to his family.
On 4 May that year Griggs transferred the funds from their joint business account into his own name.
At 6pm the next day, Debbie picked up her sons from a children's party.
The last proof of her being alive came at 7.38am when she spoke to a friend, Lisa Vickers, and made arrangements to see her the next day.
Detectives believe that by 11.20pm that night Griggs had murdered Debbie, as that was the time he rang a work colleague to say he was unable to go to Billingsgate the next day.
A neighbour reported Debbie's white Peugeot 309 car being driven away from the Griggs' house at 2am.
Then at 5.30am Griggs called his father and business partner Jonathan to inform him he would not be working that day as Debbie had left him and the children.
He repeated the story to relatives and friends that day, including Debbie's mother who he visited at 5pm.
At 9.20pm Griggs spoke to a friend of Debbie's who asked if he had called police, prompting him to finally report her missing.
Confusing her age, Griggs told the 999 operator his wife was '34 . . . 35,' and added: 'She is suffering from depression — postnatal depression.
'We've got three little boys and she's just wound up too much.'
Debbie's car was found in Deal a week after her disappearance.
The boot carpet liner had been removed and there were traces of her blood.
'We've spent 20 years in a state of disbelief'
Rumours reached police about Griggs' affair with the teenage girl, and on 25 May he was arrested on suspicion of murder.
He was quizzed 11 times, denied the affair and insisted Debbie had walked out on him, calling her 'selfish.'
But the CPS ruled there was insufficient evidence to charge Griggs.
A month following Debbie's disappearance, Griggs had put the family home on sale and begun inquiring about properties in Bournemouth.
After moving to Dorset he began a relationship with another woman, coincidentally also called Debbie, before splitting from her and meeting current wife, Debbie Three.
Kent Police continued to investigate Debbie's disappearance and in 2001 they were contacted by the new owners of the Griggs' fish business.
They had found a love letter sent to Griggs by the 15-year-old girl he had an affair with.
Griggs was re-arrested but continued to deny the affair — claiming the girl was a fantasist.
Again, prosecutors ruled there was insufficient evidence to charge Griggs.
In 2007, his marriage to Debbie was formally dissolved by presumption of death, leaving him free to remarry.
Debbie's family continued to fight for justice and police asked the CPS to review the evidence in 2018.
Despite the absence of Debbie's body, senior prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC authorised a charge of murder against Griggs.
Griggs was arrested at dawn on 12 March 2019.
Arresting detective Alan Davie said: 'It was interesting because he wasn't surprised.
'Sometimes when you arrest people in the early hours they get quite upset, but it was like he was expecting a knock on the door one day.'
Griggs' 15-year-old lover, now in her 30s, gave evidence at his Canterbury crown court trial about how she had been groomed by him.
The financial motive was also established and jurors heard how a few weeks before Debbie vanished he told a friend he wished she was dead.
He was convicted of murder, leaving Debbie's family relieved but still in anguish over her whereabouts.
Jailing Griggs, Mr Justice Spencer suggested the experienced sailor had buried Debbie's body at sea.
The truth finally emerged as Griggs played his last hand by trying to dupe his own son.
Debbie's body was found on 5 October 2022, twisted into a Z-shape inside the water butt which had been wrapped in blue tarpaulin.
She was bound in duvet covers with straps which were found to match photos of ties Griggs previously used to prop up a canoe.
Debbie's clothing, jewellery and the missing boot carpet liner were also found.
A post-mortem was unable to establish her cause of death but DCI Kimber said: 'There were no broken bones or blunt force injuries.
'We strongly suspect he strangled or suffocated Debbie.'
Debbie's sister Wendie Rowlinson said she was at her home in New Zealand when she learned she had been found.
Referring to her sister and Debbie's unborn child, Wendie said: 'Griggs hid their bodies from us so that we couldn't bury them, couldn't grieve.
'We spent 20 years not knowing whether Debbie was dead or alive, in a state of disbelief, the not knowing a constant torture.'
Griggs is not due to be released until 2041 at the earliest — if he lives that long.
A charge of obstructing the coroner — punishable with a maximum of life imprisonment — was left on file.
Debbie's family are considering appealing the length of the sentence.
Her brother Wayne said: 'We spent longer looking for photos to help the police's case than he got for hiding Debbie's body.'
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