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Lawyer who knifed wife to death is let out to work at legal centre
Last updated at 08:07am on 23.07.07
Cool customer: The killer queues for an ice cream in Derby
Christopher Lumsden, 53, was said to have 'snapped' after his wife Alison announced she was leaving him for a family friend.
He slashed her about the face and neck so many times that a pathologist could not count the wounds.
Lumsden, a partner at the international law firm Pinsent Masons, was cleared of murder but jailed for five years after being convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
He was banned from ever practising as a lawyer again at a tribunal this year, but this has not stopped him giving legal advice while on day release from prison.
From Monday to Friday Lumsden, an inmate of Sudbury open prison in Derbyshire, is dropped off by a blue prison mini-bus at the charityrun Derby Law Centre in a city centre marketplace.
The father of two works unpaid at the centre carrying out administrative tasks and giving help on legal issues to case workers at a nearby Citizens' Advice Bureau.
He is even allowed to wander around the town unsupervised for an hour when the centre closes for lunch at 12.30pm each day.
One worker said Lumsden's days at the centre were so cushy they beggared belief. 'He might have the brains and expertise that comes with being a solicitor but some people at the centre don't think he's the right man to be giving out legal advice.
'He broke the law in a terrible fashion and shouldn't be given the chance to be involved with it again. I'm sure there's plenty of parks which need sweeping or fences which need painting.'
Lumsden, from Bowdon, Cheshire, was given a five-year sentence at Manchester Crown Court in February last year.
However, he spent almost a year on remand following the killing, in March 2005, which means he is likely to be freed on parole as early as September after completing half of his jail term. During his trial the jury heard that Lumsden was depressed when he attacked his wife at their £1.2million Victorian mansion because he had recently been diagnosed with muscular dystrophy.
Victim: Lumsden's wife Alice
He stabbed the mother of his two children as she sat at her dressing table because she was having an affair and planned to leave him for Roger Flint, 58, a family friend.
The killing shocked the social circle known as the Cheshire Set, where life revolved around tennis, dinner parties and bridge.
Last year it emerged that Mrs Lumsden, 53, left her husband of 24 years almost £950,000 in her will, which she signed five years before her death. Ordinarily a killer is not permitted to profit from his victim's estate, but the courts can make an exception in certain circumstances, for example when the killer was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the crime.
When sentencing Lumsden the judge told him he would not have snapped in the way he did had it not been for the 'depressive condition' from which he was suffering.
Mrs Lumsden's family are not expected to contest her killer's claims to the money.
A spokesman for the law centre said: 'Christopher Lumsden is working at the centre in a clerical role. He has no dealings with the public. We consider this to be a suitable placement for him.'
Reader views (2)
It seems to have escaped Mr Jones' attention that Mr Lumsden is still in jail, and only leaves his confinement once a week to voluntarily provide the benefit of his legal expertise to members of the public, for free. Obviously that doesn't excuse his crime of murder, but is still a small step in the right direction - not a big fun day out for a gloating killer as this article suggests.
- Jon Parker, Tottenham, London
Just goes to prove what I've always said about being able to kill with impunity in the U.K. The criminal justice system is a joke. You can literally "get away with murder" in this country.
- Phil Jones, London UK
