My husband was jailed for murdering his first wife but I have no regrets about marrying him
The wife of a man who killed his first spouse and then asked his son to exhume her body has said she does not regret marrying him.
Andrew Griggs murdered his first wife, Debbie, in 1999 but was not convicted of the crime for another two decades.
After being jailed for life in 2019, the former fisherman asked one of his three sons to exhume their mother's body, which had never been found, as part of an elaborate plan to provide him with an alibi.
However, the plot unravelled when his son went to the police and Griggs was charged with further offences.
In April, he pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice and on Friday at Canterbury Crown Court, prosecutors announced that a second charge of obstructing a coroner would be allowed to lie on file.
Griggs, who is not eligible to apply for parole until 2039, will be sentenced on June 2.
But his current wife, also named Debbie, has said she does not accept he is guilty and vowed to stand by him.
She told The Telegraph: 'I don't believe any of it. It goes against everything I know about him. I know him and I know he could not have done what they said he did.'
Griggs killed his first wife at their home in Deal, Kent in May 1999 before reporting her missing.
He was arrested on suspicion of murder several times but was not convicted of the crime until 2019.
After being jailed for life, he asked one of his three sons to exhume her body, take a lock of hair and then write to police purporting to be her, claiming she was still alive and living overseas.
He told his son he had not murdered his mother but had simply found her dead in the garden and had panicked and so buried the body.
But Jake Griggs was unable to go through with the plan and his mother's body was finally recovered by police on Oct 5 2022.
Griggs was arrested in prison and charged.
However, his current wife has insisted she believes her husband and will stand by him.
Speaking outside the home in Dorset, where Debbie's body had lain undiscovered for 20 years and where Mrs Griggs still lives, she said: 'We've been together for 20 years and I've never had a sign of any suspicions or doubt about him.
'He's never yelled at me. He's never raised a hand against me. I've got no regrets about marrying him.'
Mrs Griggs, 60, insists on her husband's innocence despite having attended his trial at Canterbury Crown Court in 2019 where she sat through the police account of Debbie's disappearance and his subsequent attempts to cover up her death.
'I was there in court and I didn't believe it because I know the person I married. It went against what I know of him,' she insisted when this newspaper approached her.
Mrs Griggs regularly makes the four-hour round trip from her home near the New Forest village of St Leonards to visit her husband at HMP Albany on the Isle of Wight
He continues to refuse to accept the verdict of guilt brought against him, still insisting by way of explanation that he buried Debbie's body only after finding her dead in the garden and panicking.
'Andrew has told me what actually happened with the whole thing, He's maintaining his innocence. He didn't murder his wife,' said Mrs Griggs. 'Why wouldn't I be happy with what he's told me? The truth doesn't change, whatever is said in court.'
A plank of the prosecution case against Griggs during the 2019 murder trial was that he had killed Debbie after she discovered he was having sex with a 15-year-old girl.
The teenager, now a woman in her late 30s, gave evidence for the prosecution, telling jurors that Griggs had groomed her at a time she was vulnerable
Griggs had tried to pave the way for his wife Debbie's 'disappearance' by telling family members and health professionals that she was suffering from depression, later claiming this was not the first time she had left him and falsely suggesting she had been a bad mother.
Mrs Griggs said she has learnt to live with the continued accusations that have emerged since her husband's arrest, in particular his ghoulish attempt to give himself an alibi by asking Jake to exhume his mother's body.
She stated: 'If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything. It's only if you lie.'
Mrs Griggs added: 'Of course I miss him. We've done everything together. I can't speak for his boys, but I know they want to move on and put all this behind them. They have had enough.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
24 minutes ago
- The Sun
Woman dies and nine injured in horror M4 crash as motorway shut ‘for most the day' with cops launching urgent hunt
A WOMAN has died in a car crash that hospitalised nine other people last night. The fatal crash happened on the M4 between junctions 16 and 17, just before 11.30pm last night. 1 A womanin her 40s sadly died at the scene, and another woman in her 70s was seriously injured Five other people in the car had minor injuries. There were also three people travelling in the second car who were hurt and were taken to hospital with minor injuries. Wiltshire Police's Serious Collision Team are at the scene carrying out an investigation into what happened. The motorway is likely to be closed westbound for most of the day, likely causing disruption for a large number of people. Cops received reports that a white vehicle may have been involved and left the scene. Any witnesses to the collision or anyone who may have dashcam footage are asked to contact the serious collision investigation team on 01225 694597, quoting log number 399.
BBC News
37 minutes ago
- BBC News
Grantham night shelter could reopen after rough sleeping rise
Council officials are in talks to reopen a night shelter following an apparent increase in the number of people sleeping rough in Ark provided temporary accommodation for rough sleepers between December and February last winter. South Kesteven District Council's executive member for housing, Councillor Virginia Moran, said discussions were under way with the charity to provide short-term accommodation for rough sleepers, who had become "more visible" in the to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), it is estimated there are between 10 and 12 active encampments in public open spaces across Grantham. Speaking during a Housing Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, Moran said: "Rough sleeping in Grantham has become more visible recently, with tents in public areas. "All individuals are known to us, though many have complex needs and have exhausted formal housing options."She said the effectiveness of reopening the night shelter remained uncertain, given past refusals by homeless people to use it and behaviour-related exclusions, according to the LDRS. The council's head of service, Sarah McQueen, told the committee: "We want to have provision for those that need it. "We're going to look at trialling it for a bit to see who is interested in taking us up on the offer."St Vincent's ward councillor Charmaine Morgan said: "Virtually every park within Grantham now has somebody living in a tent."She added some individuals had been taking drugs, threatening violence, harassing schoolgirls and starting fires.A meeting with partners, housing officers and members has been scheduled for 23 June to discuss how the situation can be addressed legally, safely, and fairly. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
BBC News
37 minutes ago
- BBC News
Police make renewed call over John 'Goldfinger' Palmer murder
Detectives have renewed their appeal for information 10 years after the murder of notorious and once wealthy criminal John "Goldfinger" 65-year-old was shot six times in the garden of his woodland mansion in South Weald near Brentwood at about 17:30 BST on 24 June earned his nickname after being accused of melting gold from the 1983 Brink's-Mat robbery and he scammed thousands of timeshare owners out of millions of pounds in Tenerife in the Police says his family still "rightly want answers" and believes loyalties in the "criminal fraternity" have changed. "His killing was a brutal, planned execution," said Det Supt Stephen Jennings of the Essex and Kent Serious Crime Directorate."Over the years there has been much commentary, media coverage and even television programmes speculating about his connections to the underworld, high profile crimes and his past."But whatever someone's past, John was a father, partner and much-loved by his family." In 1983, armed robbers stumbled upon £26m worth of gold, diamonds and cash in the Brink's-Mat warehouse near London Heathrow was found not guilty of conspiring to handle the stolen bullion at an Old Bailey trial in 1987, but the Met Police continued to investigate him. He amassed an estimated fortune of £300m in the 1990s, with a portfolio including mansions, helicopters, restaurants, a £750,000 yacht and classic in 2001, he was jailed for eight years at the Old Bailey for conspiracy to defraud, having scammed about 16,000 couples out of millions on Tenerife. In May 2015 - a month before his murder - Spanish prosecutors charged him with fraud, firearms possession and money laundering in relation to his timeshare believe a contract killer watched him through a spyhole in his fence at his property, before scaling the fence and shooting him at the only spot not covered by however, two police officers assessed his death as non-suspicious, owing to his wound from gall bladder surgery which took place a week earlier.A post-mortem examination on 30 June revealed he was actually shot in the chest, abdomen, arm, elbow, back and two officers later faced disciplinary action and Det Supt Jennings has previously admitted the force failed to carry out "background checks on John" and did not "really check the body well enough". In 2019, other individuals were found guilty as part of the same Spanish fraud indictment that Palmer had been charged with."We know the key to solving John's murder lies within the underworld and we have always suspected it may have been linked to the fraud trial," said Det Supt Jennings."A lot has changed within the criminal fraternity, including loyalties, and people may now feel able to come forward."A 43-year-old man from Rugby, Warwickshire, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder in 2015, but was released without February 2017, detectives said a 50-year-old man from Tyneside, who lived in southern Spain, was questioned on suspicion of murder in what was a voluntary interview. He faced no further with information can call Essex Police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via its website Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
