Rebecca Payne was jailed after killing her abusive husband with drug-laced lemon biscuits and hiding his body in a freezer… now she’s had her sentence slashed
A woman who murdered her sadistic husband and hid his body in a chest freezer has had her sentence reduced on appeal.
Rebecca Payne, 44, was jailed for 16 years in June last year after being convicted of the murder of 68-year-old Noel Payne.
During the trial, Payne claimed that she did not intend to kill him when she gave him lemon cookies with temazepam spice, only that she wanted to sedate him for a while.
Payne appealed the conviction and sentence to the Court of Appeal, with her lawyers arguing that the conviction was a miscarriage of justice and that the facts of the case should have resulted in greater mercy.
On Wednesday, Judges Terry Forrest, Stephen McLeish and Stephen Kaye returned to court after dismissing her appeal against the murder conviction.
But they overturned her sixteen-year sentence and imposed a new twelve-year sentence.
Her non-parole period was also reduced from ten to seven years, meaning she will be eligible for parole in due course in September 2027.
They will publish their reasons.
Payne, 44, was found guilty of the murder of Noel Payne, 68, after a three-week trial
Court was told Noel Payne was an abusive husband (pictured)
Passing her original sentence in June last year, Judge Rita Incerti said Noel Payne had inflicted years of depraved sexual, emotional and physical abuse on his wife.
“The abuse was insidious… You were trapped in an abusive, violent and cruel environment for over a decade,” she said.
‘I accept that your deplorable behavior cannot be separated from the abuse you have suffered.’