Rickie La Touche sentenced to life in prison for suffocating wife with pillow
Manchester Police
Rickie La-Touche, 30, told a court that his Thai wife Pornpilai Srisroy, 28, had damaged his precious Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker memorabilia. An English man convicted of suffocating his wife claims she abused him for years — and even destroyed his prized “Star Wars” collection.
Rickie La Touche, 30, was found guilty in England on Tuesday for the April murder of Pornpilai Srisroy, according to London's Telegraph.
Srisroy and La Touche met in 2001 and married two years later, but he claims the love soured and she eventually turned to the dark side, the Telegraph reported.
La Touche said his 28-year-old wife ruined his Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader memorabilia — and once struck him with a pool cue. The abuse even drove him to call a domestic violence hotline in 2010, he said.
"We argued and she said she was going to make my life hell," he told police. "She’s put me through it before. I couldn’t let that happen again."
The night of the killing at their home in Greater Manchester, La Touche said he snapped.
"I then just remember getting up from on top of her," he said to police that night, according to the Telegraph. "I think I’ve choked her."
The couple got into a fight over needing a passport for their daughter, he told authorities.
After the killing he ran straight to his mother and told her he had "killed her." Police later found Srisroy dead in their bedroom, a pillow over her face, according to BBC News.
La Touche fought the charge of murder, arguing that his crime was manslaughter.
A jury ultimately convicted him of murder and sentenced him to life in jail. He will be eligible for parole in 12 years.
