A mortgage broker who was in around £300,000 of debt has been found guilty of the murder of his wife, having paid off the arrears on her life insurance policy days earlier.

Robert Hammond, 47, faced a “surging mountain of debt and financial pressures” when his wife was found strangled, a trial at Cambridge Crown Court was told.

Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC said that Sian Hammond’s life insurance policy was for a £450,000 payout in the event of her death.

Hammond denied his wife’s murder but he was found guilty by a unanimous verdict on Wednesday, Cambridgeshire Police said.

The force said he will be sentenced on July 23.

Hammond had dialled 999 just before 2am on October 30 last year and told the operator he had found his wife Sian face down on the bed and not breathing.

Mr Paxton, opening the prosecution case, told Cambridge Crown Court that Mrs Hammond, 46, was pronounced dead at the family home in Primes Corner, Histon, Cambridgeshire.

The barrister said that a post-mortem examination “established Sian Hammond had been strangled and sustained other injuries, including to her vagina”.

Mr Paxton said Hammond, who ran a business called Hammond Mortgage Services, was about £300,000 in debt at the time.

He said that about £200,000 of this was owed to Legal and General, and an agent who was pursuing this debt called him on October 30.

“He told her his wife Sian had died that morning and even though they were divorcing she was the mother of his children,” Mr Paxton said.

The prosecutor said the defendant’s case was that they were happily married.

Mr Paxton said that Hammond spoke to the agent again on November 3 about the debt and inquired “if he was able to pay off the debt quicker, as he would be having life insurance paid to him, would Legal and General review the interest payments on the debt balance”.

“Sian Hammond had been dead barely a week and this was the defendant’s focus,” Mr Paxton said.

He said that Hammond “had eyes on the prize of Sian’s life insurance pay-off”.

Detective Inspector Richard Stott, from the Beds, Cambs and Herts Major Crime Unit, said investigations showed Hammond to be a “competent liar and the large debts and financial pressures he was under became clear”.

“His greed and fear of losing his public standing led to him murdering his wife to benefit from her life insurance and to continue to hide his debt and lies,” he said.

“Our thoughts go out to the family and friends of Sian; she was a loved and well-liked person and an active and successful businesswoman.”

In an earlier statement, Sian’s family said: “Everyone that knew her would agree Sian was one of the friendliest people you could have the pleasure of meeting, and she will be sorely missed by many.”