Killer Adrian Prout considers appeal
Yesterday the county businessman’s lawyers confirmed that an appeal could be on the cards.
On Friday, Prout, 47, was found guilty of murdering his wife Kate after a trial at Bristol Crown Court.
Mrs Prout vanished without trace in November 2007 and despite no sign of her body or significant forensic evidence, a jury found her husband guilty by a verdict of 10 to one.
In a statement issued to The Citizen yesterday, Prout’s solicitor Dennis Dudley, of Grove Tompkins Bosworth, in Birmingham, said: “An appeal is being actively considered at the moment.”
On what grounds the appeal may be lodged have not been released.
Several hundred Facebook members believe the Redmarley father-of-two’s conviction should not stand and that Mrs Prout, 55, is alive.
More than 700 people have signed up to a site dedicated to tracking down Mrs Prout.
She was last heard of on November 5, 2007, and left her keys, car, passport, money, bank cards, handbag, shoes and clothes behind.
Despite a massive search of the Prouts’ Redhill Farm and surrounding area, no trace of her was found.
No blood was discovered inside the farmhouse and presiding judge Mr Justice Nigel Davis said on Monday Prout “most probably” strangled his wife and disposed of her body.
Divorce
He said prosecutors proved Prout’s explanation, that he did not know what had happened to his wife, was untrue.
The couple were going through a bitter divorce, and the day before she disappeared, Mrs Prout upped her demand for a share of the £1.2 million farm to £800,000.
On the same day, Prout discovered she had taken £14,000 out of their joint account to fund legal costs.
The judge rejected defence mitigation that a “prolonged period of stress” could be considered – the court heard how Mrs Prout had drunkenly abused her husband in front of his friends in the Rose and Crown pub in Redmarley.
Gloucestershire Constabulary detectives are expected to speak to Prout in an effort to discover where Mrs Prout’s body has been put. But his Facebook supporters are convinced she is not dead.
The Facebook group ‘Help Find This Woman’ was initiated by Karla and Alex Prout in an effort to track Mrs Prout down.
“If the net is cast wide enough, someone who joins this group will have seen her alive and well, of that I am sure,” they wrote. “Adrian will then be able to live the life of freedom he deserves.”
Police declined to comment on both matters but a spokeswoman said officers were aware of the Facebook sites.
Prout’s fiancee, with whom he had a daughter just before the trial, declined to comment.
