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Barclays bank exec beat wife to death with crowbar after she called him ‘useless’

A British Barclays bank executive “snapped” and beat his cancer-ridden wife to death with a crowbar after she called him “useless,” his lawyer said on Monday.

David Pomphret, 51, admitted to hitting wife Ann Marie Pomphret over the head more than 30 times with the tool at their home in Warrington, Cheshire, on Nov. 2, 2018, the Manchester Evening News reported.

The couple had gotten into a fight, and Ann Marie, 49, began to “rant and rave” at her hubby, calling him “useless,” Pomphret’s defense lawyer, Richard Pratt, said in Liverpool Crown Court.

The mom then allegedly turned her attention to the couple’s 18-year-old daughter Megan — calling her a “fat slag,” a British insult for a promiscuous woman, and accusing her of going “out to get sex” that night, Pratt said.

The husband also claimed she said he was encouraging their daughter to be promiscuous, the barrister said.

He said that Ann Marie was “highly volatile” at times and “prone to violent rages.”

“This is a case where a quiet man finally snapped,” Pratt told the jury. “You may have little doubt in concluding this was a man who had completely lost his normal character and self control.”

Pomphret suffered a “loss of self control” consistent with manslaughter, Pratt argued.

But prosecutors allege that Pomphret, who is an associate vice-president at Barclays bank, intended to kill his wife.

“It may be loss of temper, but not loss of control,” said prosecutor Gordon Cole.

Cole said Ann Marie had multiple defense wounds on both arms, showing she’d tried to fend off the repeated blows from her husband.

After the killing, Pomphret sent text messages to his wife’s phone asking where she was in an effort to ward off suspicion, Cole said.

Then he called the cops to report that he’d just found his dead wife and told them a “complete pack of lies,” Cole said.

“Who would have done this? Who has done this to my wife?” Pomphret allegedly asked the operator.

When first responders arrived, Pomphret appeared “confused” and it looked like he was going to “become emotional and cry, but then no tears did come,” Cole said.

The jury was also told that Ann Marie had suffered a number of mental health issues over the years and was on the autism spectrum. She had also been undergoing treatment for cancer.

The trial is set to continue on Tuesday.