Leigh Man Jailed For Wife's Murder

2 November 2011, 12:05 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

A man has been jailed for life for killing his wife at their home in Leigh.

Rickie La-Touche, also known as Rickie Nehls, of Maple Crescent, Leigh was found guilty of murder following a trial at Preston Crown Court and jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 12 years in prison.

Shortly after 6.30am on Tuesday 26 April 2011, La-Touche knocked on the door of his mum's house in Leigh and went into her home. He appeared to be in an agitated state.

When his mum asked him what was wrong, he replied that he had "killed her."

His mum, shocked, asked him what he meant. He again repeated that he had "killed her", referring to his wife, 28-year-old Pornpilai Srisroy.

La-Touche's mum stayed with him at her address, while another family member went round to La-Touche’s home nearby on Maple Crescent in Leigh, to see if Rickie had in fact done what he said.

The family member returned a short time later and was visibly upset, after he had found Pornpilai dead on a bed upstairs.

La-Touche's family then phoned the police and emergency services went to the house on Maple Crescent, where they found Pornpilai's body on a bed upstairs with a pillow covering her face.

When police spoke to Rickie La-Touche, he told an officer that he and his wife had woken up that morning and had an argument, during which she had threatened to leave him and return to Thailand.

After further arguing, La-Touche said all he then remembered was getting up from on top of his wife and that he thought he had choked her.

A post mortem examination concluded the cause of Pornpilai's death was asphyxiation.

Senior Investigating Officer Andy Tattersall from Greater Manchester Police said: "This is a tragic case where a young woman's life has been taken at the hands of her husband.

Unfortunately, we may never know exactly what happened that morning, but I hope that La-Touche's sentence is of some small comfort to Pornpilai's family and friends.

La-Touche will now also have to live the rest of his life with the awful knowledge that he is responsible for killing his wife."