A mortgage broker who murdered his wife for financial gain in the face of mounting debts has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 24 years.

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

Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC said the defendant, also known as James, was in around £300,000 of debt and had paid off the arrears on his wife’s life insurance policy four days before her murder.

Mr Paxton said that 46-year-old Mrs Hammond’s life insurance policy was for a £450,000 payout in the event of her death.

Hammond denied his wife’s murder, at the family home in Primes Corner, Histon, Cambridgeshire, but a jury found him guilty.

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

Judge Mr Justice John Cavanagh KC sentenced Hammond at Cambridge Crown Court on Tuesday to life in prison with a minimum term of 24 years.

He must serve this minimum term before he can be considered for release.

The judge told Hammond: “On the face of it, you had an enviable life, going on frequent holidays and you recently bought a holiday home.”

But he said that “behind this facade, cracks were beginning to show”.

“You had overextended yourselves with property renovations, the businesses were in a great deal of debt,” the judge said.

He said that Hammond had lied to creditors to put off payments, lying that he had cancer.

The judge said he was “sure that until the weekend of her death or at least very shortly before it, Sian was unaware of the predicament you were in”.

He told Hammond: “You are a habitual and accomplished liar, lying whenever it suits your purpose to do so.”

Hammond, who wore a suit in the dock and rested his glasses on the top of his head, shook his head as he was sentenced.

The judge told him “there was a way out but it would have involved dismantling the property portfolio you had built up over a number of years”.

He said Hammond had carried out internet searches on how to disable the passenger airbag for a Ford Focus, a type of car that the family had, and relating to overdosing on diazepam – a medication his wife had previously used.

He described the attack on Mrs Hammond as “brutal and determined” but said that the “killing as it took place wasn’t part of a careful plan – it happened more or less on the spur of the moment”.

He said the trigger was not known, with Mrs Hammond unable to give evidence and Hammond’s evidence “can’t be trusted”, but the judge suggested a “sudden argument” as a possibility.

The judge described Mrs Hammond as a “wonderful mother devoted to her two daughters”.

Christopher Paxton KC, prosecuting, said Hammond dialled 999, “faked the resuscitation attempts, then set on a persistent course of covering up his actions”.

He said that the defendant’s “motive was for financial gain”.

Karim Khalil KC, mitigating, said there was “not a significant degree of pre-planning”.

He said it was “remarkable that both daughters … have clearly spoken of him (Hammond) not having to serve a day longer than is absolutely necessary”.

Mr Khalil said they had “implored” the judge to “keep it (the sentence) to the minimum”.

Mr Paxton, opening the prosecution case at the start of the trial, said that Mrs Hammond was pronounced dead at the family home.

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”.

Hammond showed no reaction as he was led to the cells.

He had blown kisses to family members in the public gallery before the judge passed his sentence.