UK man convicted of killing 2 girlfriends, 5 years apart

LONDON – A British man has been convicted of killing two of his girlfriends, five years apart, deaths that police initially ruled unsuspicious.

Jurors at Lewes Crown Court in southern England found Robert Trigg guilty Wednesday of the 2006 manslaughter of Caroline Devlin and the 2011 murder of Susan Nicholson. He will be sentenced Thursday.

Police initially recorded Devlin’s death as having been caused by an aneurysm and said Nicholson’s was accidental. Trigg said he inadvertently rolled onto her while the couple slept on a sofa.

Both deaths were re-examined after a campaign by Nicholson’s family. A pathologist ruled that Devlin was killed by a blow to the head and Nicholson died of suffocation.

Prosecution service official Nigel Pilkington says Trigg had “a history of violence and controlling behaviour towards his partners.”