Marcus Bebb-Jones Receives 20-Year Sentence for Murder

Posted on: May 10, 2013, 05:37h. 

Last updated on: May 7, 2013, 08:00h.

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Expertise: Commercial Gaming.

bebbMarcus Bebb-Jones, the British former professional poker player found guilty of murdering his wife, has now been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in a case that’s been drawn out for more than 16 years.

For those who missed our previous coverage of this story, Sabrina Bebb-Jones’ absence was reported by a member of staff at the Bebb-Jones-owned Melrose Hotel in Grand Junction, Colorado , back in 1997. When questioned by police at the time, Marcus Bebb-Jones told the authorities that his wife had walked out on him and his three year old son following an argument between the married couple.

Fast Forward to Vegas

Bebb-Jones later went to Las Vegas, telling his colleagues that he was going there in search of his missing wife, but his son, who he had taken with him, was taken into care just four days later after being found alone in their hotel room at a young age. Following this, Bebb-Jones reportedly spent his time gambling, using his wife’s credit cards, and was eventually found in a different hotel room with a gunshot wound to the head from a suspected botched suicide attempt.

After recovering, he and his son relocated back to the UK, where Bebb-Jones began playing poker online and developed some skill at the game, winning $184,370 in 2006 after claiming victory at the Grosvenor Grand Prix, as well as other lucrative prizes through online poker.

However, during this time, Sabrina Bebb-Jones’ skull was found near Douglas Pass in Colorado. It took 12 years for a warrant to be issued for Marcus Bebb-Jones’ arrest, but he was finally arrested in 2009 at his home in Worcestershire, and extradited to the U.S. in 2011 to stand trial for murder in the first degree, concealing death, and domestic violence.

The ex-poker player eventually pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree of Sabrina Bebb-Jones, in what he termed the ‘heat of passion’, which limited his sentence to a maximum of 20 years, a sentence which has now been handed down to him, and one which sees him no longer heading to the rail, but straight behind bars.