Britsh poker pro Marcus Bebb-Jones, 49, was arrested at his home in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, in 2009 for the murder of his wife Sabrina, 31, in 1997. He admitted second-degree murder, telling police he killed his wife in a "heat of passion". On Wednesday, bbc news wrote that he had been jailed at Garfield County Court for 20 years, but his sentence will be reduced to reflect the time he has severed awaiting the trial.
The story
The couple owned the Melrose Hotel in Grand Junction, Colorado, and Sabrina was reported missing by a hotel employee in September 1997. Marcus Bebb-Jones claimed that his wife had left him after an argument while they where on a day trip. He then took off to Las Vegas together with his son and told colleagues that he was going to look for her in the city where her family live.
He spent thousands of dollars on his wife's credit cards gambling in Las Vegas and his toddler son (a child between the ages of one and three) was found alone in a hotel room four days after they had arrived. A maid found Bebb-Jones in another hotel room the next day with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Bebb-Jones refused to speak to US police and moved back to the UK with his son in 1998, after selling the hotel. Nothing happened in the case until six years later when a rancher found a human skull in a national park near Douglas Pass in north-west Colorado. Purple thistle flowers were found near the skull and had also been found underneath Bebb-Jones's van in 1997. According to the daily mail, this led to the start of extradition proceedings and today's sentencing, which brings a 16-year case to a close.
Poker
Marcus Bebb-Jones was active on the tournament circuit until he was arrested in 2009. According to a live tournament results tracking site, he earned $242,599 between 2007 and 2009. His biggest cash came in 2007 when he won a £100 Pot Limit Hold'em tournament in the UK for £90,000 ($184,370).
