Husband raped and murdered his wife then tried to make it look like suicide 25 years after his partner was 'electrocuted in bath by her radio'

By ANDY DOLAN, GENERAL REPORTER Published: 01:27, 9 July 2026 | Updated: 01:38, 9 July 2026 Alongside her children, one of Rhonda Anderson's passions in life was her music. So when the 29-year-old was found electrocuted in the bath – her mains-powered ghetto blaster switched on in the water alongside her - it seemed feasible the death was a tragic accident. The popular young mother had separated from Michael Thompson, the father of her two young children, but seemingly had everything to live for, and a coroner later duly concluded that her 'tragic' death was accidental - the result of a 'foolish' mistake. But 25 years later Ms Anderson's passing took on new significance after Thompson's estranged wife, Kimberley, was also found dead in what at first appeared to be a suicide. Jurors heard Thompson, 56, raped and murdered 43-year-old Kimberley in the early hours of one morning, in August last year, after watching sex videos and 'stewing' over her new relationship and a demand for an inflated financial settlement as part of their divorce proceedings. He then 'set a scene' to make it appear she had committed suicide by placing empty spirit bottles and pill packets beside her body at the marital home in Northampton last August. Thompson also sent social media messages from her phone claiming she had been drinking, and placed a wedding photograph and a montage of pictures of Mrs Thompson's late sister, who committed suicide, on the bed beside her before calling police and paramedics to say he had discovered her unresponsive in her bedroom. After Thompson, a former doorman and amateur boxer, was convicted of Mrs Thompson's murder, rape and two counts of perverting the course of justice yesterday, the Daily Mail can reveal details of Ms Anderson's death can be told for the first time.  Michael Thompson was convicted of the rape and murder of Kimberley Thompson and two counts of perverting the course of justice Michael Thompson with Rhonda Anderson, who was found electrocuted in a bath in July 2000 Kimberley Thompson had been in the process of divorcing her estranged husband and was 'moving on' with her life It poses the disturbing question: did Thompson almost get away with murder twice? Pictured exclusively here with Ms Anderson, the Mail has been told that Thompson, a one-time amateur boxer and doorman, was a regular visitor to the terraced house on the town's Briar Hill estate where she lived with the couple's two children. Residents in the cul-de-sac where Ms Anderson lived recall him collecting or dropping off their children in his yellow VW Corrado coupe bearing a private registration plate spelling 'boxer' – jurors heard the plate adorned his Audi TT at the time of Mrs Thompson's death. The Mail has tracked down a number of Ms Anderson's then neighbours in Briar Hill – including one woman who recalls Ms Anderson revealing that she planned to relax in the bath with a glass of wine while listening to her music prior to the mother-of-two being found dead. While many of the residents say they had suspicions at the time that the tragic mother had come to harm, others did not remember the bathtub incident at all, or suggested the radio may have been balancing on the sink before falling into the water. Amongst those who were concerned Ms Anderson's death was not a mere accident was a postman who lived in an adjacent property on Hembury Place and forced his way inside Ms Anderson's address to discover her body in the bathwater. Following the tragedy, police taped off the street while they carried out door-to-door enquiries. The postman, who wanted to be known only by his first name of Darren, remembers telling a constable: 'This is suspicious.' Darren said he ended up being interviewed by a police officer that he knew, and told the PC that he believed Ms Anderson's passing couldn't have been an accident. Kimberley (pictured left) and Michael Thompson (right) were sleeping in separate bedrooms in the marital home as their divorce was finalised A coroner ruled mother-of-two Rhonda Anderson died accidentally - the result of a 'foolish' mistake Michael Thompson crowed to police that they didn't have enough evidence against him in relation to estranged wife Kimberley Thompson's death 'The officer told me they had their suspicions', Darren said. 'Rhonda had the same kind of bath as me. It had a very narrow ledge, no more than two inches, and it tilted towards the inside of the bath. It was much too narrow to accommodate the kind of radio (that was found in the water with Ms Anderson). 'I used to shave in the bath and my razor would constantly be falling into the water – that's how narrow the ledge was. 'I thought she had either killed herself or been killed.' Recalling how he came to discover Ms Anderson's body, Darren told the Daily Mail: 'I was driving in to the cul-de-sac with my partner when we saw these girls outside (Ms Anderson's) house. At first I thought they were trying to break in, or attack her for some reason, so I went over. 'They said they were Rhonda's sisters and they hadn't been able to contact her for a few days. They thought something might have happened to her. 'Another neighbour came over and I kicked the door in. When I went upstairs I saw her in the bath. It was obvious she was dead.' Darren added that he went back down and told Ms Anderson's sisters not to go upstairs 'but they insisted'. Darren said the radio was a 'big ghetto blaster type' which was on a small extension lead plugged in to a socket in the hallway. 'I thought to myself: "Who would do that?", he added. 'The bathroom was so small that there was no need to bring the radio into the bathroom, she'd have heard it fine from the hallway. 'I remember kicking the switch off beside the plug. As I was trying to reach the plug, others were on the phone to the ambulance and they were telling me we needed to get her out of the water to resuscitate her. 'I shouted back: "She's beyond that, she's beyond that – she's f***ing dead". But we carried her to the bedroom and then I stepped back as others tried to revive her. I knew it was too late.' Darren said he believed the incident left him with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. 'At the time I was decorating my children's bedroom and for a while afterwards I kept seeing her image out of the window', he added. 'I think that's why it's stayed so vivid in my mind.' Darren said he only had limited contact with Ms Anderson, but had bumped into her in a nearby alley a few nights before she died. Kimberley Thompson had a new partner and was returning to her 'bubbly' former self Rhonda Anderson told a neighbour just hours before her death that she planned to have a with a glass of wine and 'listen to some music' Northamptonshire Police concluded there was 'insufficient evidence' to proceed with a murder probe into the death of Rhonda Anderson  'I was walking my dog and it was dark', he said. 'We gave each other a fright. 'I was young back then and I remember thinking to myself "She's pretty". When I saw her in the bath I thought "It can't be her" because she looked so different.  Dawn Paice recalled hearing a 'blood-curdling scream' at the moment the young mother's body was discovered. 'My bedroom looked out on their house and I remember we were reading the papers in bed, which was our habit at the time', she said. 'I remember the postman ran around to help the sisters. 'I didn't see anything but I heard a blood-curdling scream when the sisters found the body. 'We all thought she must've been electrocuted when she tripped over the radio lead when she was getting out of the bath.' Theresa Paul, 59, who also lived in the cul-de-sac, is thought to be one of the last people to speak to Ms Anderson. She told the Mail: 'I remember asking Rhonda what she was going to do that day and she said that her ex had the kids so she was going to relax and have a bath with a glass of wine and listen to some music. 'I actually told her not to put the radio in the bathroom – I said she should leave it out in the hall and just have the bathroom door open if there was nobody home. 'Rhonda was a good friend to me. There were a group of us who would go on the school run together.' She recalled thinking Thompson had 'acted weirdly' after the death, having asked if his children could come to play with her son later the same day that their mother had been found dead. A childhood friend of Ms Anderson's told the Mail she lost touch with the mother-of-two more than a decade before her death but added: 'At the time, we couldn't understand how the radio fell into the bath.' But the woman, who asked not to be named, added: 'Rhonda did love her music. 'She always had music playing whenever I went to her house.' Two other neighbours in Hembury Place also told us about the suspicions of residents in the street at the time.  One woman, who lived a few doors away, said: 'My late husband said to me that there was something suspicious about that incident because how many people die of an electric shock in the bath?' An inquest into the death took place in October 2000.  Northampton coroner Anne Pember concluded that Miss Anderson 'brought in a mains radio in the bath area which was foolish in the extreme.'  The coroner added that the radio 'fell into the bath and electrocuted' Ms Anderson. Ms Anderson was born in Brisbane, Queensland, in July 1970 – her family amongst the million-plus 'ten pound poms' who emigrated Down Under in search of a better life in the decades after the Second World War. Upon returning to the UK, the family settled in Northampton, where Ms Anderson was said to have enjoyed a stint working in a hair salon. She was electrocuted just three months after the death in similar circumstances of a 12-year-old boy just 14 miles away in Old Stratford, Northamptonshire. At the time, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents described the tragedy as a once-a-year event. In legal argument ahead of Thompson's trial for his wife's murder, the court heard the defendant - who has a son and daughter with both Ms Anderson and Mrs Thompson - had allegedly used the death of the former to threaten and intimidate the latter. Mrs Thompson was a former East Midlands basketball coach of the year One of Mrs Thompson's friends told police the murder victim, who was known as Kim, had been told by others that her husband – who had previously worked alongside her in the courts and tribunals service but was in the auto trade at the time of the murder - had 'killed his first wife'. But she added: 'Kim didn't think he did it because he had an alibi (for the time of Ms Anderson's death) – he took the kids swimming.' She added: 'Between 2012 and 2014 (Kim) told me many times that if anything ever happened to her then it was Michael Thompson. '(She said) 'If I ever leave him he would kill me and get away with it as he has done before.' Kim was too scared to leave.' Another long-time friend told police that when Mrs Thompson was threatening to leave her husband 'he told her he would 'do time' and kill her', adding: 'Kim told me he had been questioned over his first wife's death and there was a question in her head about whether he killed her or not, especially given the threats.' Thompson – who crowed in his final police interview that officers didn't have enough evidence against him in relation to his wife of 19 years' death - claimed he had 'never threatened Kim at any time about anything.' The question marks around Thompson bear similarities to the case of Ian Stewart, who in 2022 was convicted of murdering his wife Diane, at home in Bassingbourne, Cambridgeshire, 12 years earlier. Stewart, 61, had successfully fooled paramedics and police into believing she had suffered a fatal epileptic fit until he murdered his fiancée, 51-year-old children's author Helen Bailey and dumping her body in a cesspit of their Hertfordshire home, in 2016. Diane's mother Noreem Lem urged police to reinvestigate the case following Ms Bailey's murder. But the Mail understands that in Thompson's case, Ms Anderson's family did not support the police's decision to look again at her death and were content that she died accidentally. The trial heard Thompson's daughter with murdered Kimberley, Athena, now 18, was an 'England team basketball player' who was away at college in America when her mother was killed early on August 9. Her police interviews and statement formed part of the prosecution's case. But it is understood Thompson's children by Ms Anderson remained supportive of their father - who will be sentenced next week - throughout the court proceedings. Following Wednesday's convictions, DCI Torie Harrison, of Northamptonshire Police, said: 'Early in our investigation into Kim's death we were told of the death of Michael Thompson's former partner Rhonda Anderson, 29, who died in July 2000. 'Rhonda's death had been investigated at the time, and an inquest ruled it was accidental.  However, after concerns were raised about the circumstances of Rhonda's death and in light of what happened to Kim, we launched a fresh murder investigation. 'As part of our enquiries we arrested Michael Thompson, 56, on suspicion of murder. 'We also revisited reports from 25 years ago and issued a fresh appeal for anyone who may have known Rhonda at the time to contact us. 'This work has now concluded, and it has been determined there is insufficient evidence to take the investigation further, with no further action being taken against Michael Thompson.'