'Don't people just die?': Michael Thompson's police interview defence read out to jury in Northampton murder trial
A jury has heard Michael Thompson repeatedly deny murdering his wife and ask detectives: "Do people not just die?" during a police interview read out in court.
The interview was played to jurors at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday June 18 as Thompson continues to stand trial accused of the rape and murder of his wife, Kimberley Thompson.
Michael Thompson, aged 55, of Pinewood Road, Northampton, denies the rape and murder of 43-year-old Kimberley Thompson, who was found dead at a property in Pinewood Road on August 9, 2025.
He also denies two counts of doing an act with intent to pervert the course of public justice.
During the interview, detectives repeatedly challenged the 55-year-old over Kimberley's death at the couple's home in Pinewood Road.
Asked whether he had intended to hurt or murder Kimberley, Thompson replied: "Sorry. I'd never hurt her. There's no history of violence where you can say, well on this date you did this. I haven't. I haven't. I haven't done any physical violence to her, not on that day or any other day.
"There's nothing to support I've ever done that.
"All you've got is her telling the world I'm this bad, bad husband who beats her and rapes her.
"She's not well. No one would stay in a relationship if that's the case. Like I say, she wanted a polyamorous marriage when she should've got out and done what she wanted to do. But not with me because I don't want to do that.
"We were 10 days short of 19 years of marriage. We've known each other for 23 years. Not a lot of marriages last that long in this day and age. We spent over half our adult life together.
"But, you know, things happen, people change, and you drift apart and you don't even recognise the person that you married. It's sad. It's sad."
Asked directly whether he intended to kill Kimberley, Thompson said: "I haven't touched her. I haven't done anything like that at all."
When asked whether he had planned her death, Thompson sighed before replying: "No, I haven't. I haven't planned anything."
The court heard detectives then suggested Kimberley had been leaving him, had found a new partner and was building a life without him.
Thompson responded: "Did you decide to write these questions? Did you decide to write that question? Or is it just protocol?
"As I said earlier, she was not interested in a traditional marriage. She wanted to have other people, other people's attention. That's not what I see in a marriage.
"I tried to talk to her about her behaviour, her habits, her hoarding, her shopping. I bought books to try and understand why she is the way she is about this.
"I was happy to file for divorce because of the way she was treating me. I tried to fix what was broken."
Jurors also heard detectives question Thompson about whether he had staged the scene where Kimberley was found.
Asked whether he had placed alcohol bottles, blister packets and photographs next to Kimberley to make it appear to be a self-harm incident, Thompson replied: "I did not do that, no."
The jury then heard officers ask why his fingerprints had been found on several items recovered from the bedroom.
Asked why his fingerprints were on a bottle of Phipps Northampton Gin, Thompson said: "Because the police said I could tidy up after, so I tidied up, wiped everything down. The room was hoovered because they said you can tidy up, so that's what I did."
When detectives pointed out that only his fingerprints were found on the bottle, Thompson replied: "Yeah but it was after the event though, it was after. I'd expect my fingerprint to be on there because I was the one who moved it."
Asked what he did with the bottle, he said: "Well I wiped everything down. The whole room was cleaned. Everything was spic and span."
The court heard Thompson gave a similar explanation when asked about fingerprints found on a Skull Vodka bottle recovered from beside the bed.
He said: "The same as the gin bottle. Everything got cleaned and I moved them."
Asked whether he had cleaned that bottle as well, Thompson replied: "Yeah, I cleaned everything. I polished everything. I wiped everything. Moved everything back.
"Because that was what I was told to do. Well not told to do, was allowed to do.
"I was told I could clear up. Everything was wiped down and put back. It was like a spring clean. Everything was wiped."
When asked whether he had disposed of any evidence to prevent police finding out what happened to Kimberley, Thompson said: "Evidence like what? What evidence? I don't know the ins and outs of the police. But it started out not being a crime, then it was a crime, then there was no cause of death, then there was suffocation.
"The detectives came out and saw exactly what I saw and determined it is what it looks like. I never made no decision on what was what. I just did what I was told to do throughout this whole thing."
The jury then heard detectives ask Thompson how he explained the death of a healthy woman who had not taken significant amounts of drugs or alcohol and had died from suffocation while he was the only other person in the house.
Thompson replied: "OK, do people not just die? Does that not just happen? I don't know. Do people suffocate in their sleep, die in their sleep?"
Detectives asked: "So have you murdered Kimberley?", Thompson laughed and replied: "I think you've asked that question already. You're asking in different ways now, I believe."
When asked a final question, "Why have you murdered her?", the court heard Thompson laughed again before sighing.
The trial continues.