British Poker Player Jailed For Finally Admitting The Murder Of His Wife

Marcus Bebb-Jones, a British Poker player, has been jailed for 20 years for the murder of his wife, a murder that took place some 16 years ago in Colorado.

In 1997 Bebb-Jones’ wife Sabrina went missing after the couple went on a day trip, and it wasn’t until 2004 that a Rancher found her skull under a purple thistle bush in Douglas Pass National Park in Colorado. Bebb-Jones initially denied killing his wife and returned to the United Kingdom, before being arrested in 2009 at his home on the outskirts of Birmingham.

He was arrested in 2009, but it wasn’t until 2011 that he was finally extradited to America, still denying he killed Sabrina and still refusing to cooperate with the police. Commander Bill Middleton of The Garfield County Sheriff’s Office in Colorado was the arresting officer at the time and speaking to the BBC in 2009 he said, “We have worked on this since September 2004, and the investigation has taken us to London, Dublin and Edinburgh to interview people. Now we are looking forward to sitting down and talking to him.”

In February of this year Bebb-Jones finally admitted to killing his wife and yesterday he was in court. Appearing in a Glenwood Springs courtroom yesterday Bebb-Jones, a former winner of The Grosvenor Grand Prix in 2007, a win that saw him pocket £90,000, said, “I didn’t intentionally kill Sabrina, but what I did do was wrong and I ask for your forgiveness.”

Dang Thanh Danh is Sabrina’s father and a statement was read out on his behalf at the news yesterday that Marcus Bebb-Jones will face a maximum of 20 years in prison for killing his daughter. The statement read, “This terrible man. He took her life. He took our grandson away and our daughter for no reason.”

So after 16 years the case can finally be brought to an end, but whatever happens to Marcus Bebb-Jones will be no consolation to Mr Dang Thanh Danh and his family as they have waited a long 16 years to see their son-in-law brought to justice.