Mother murdered at son's grave by ex who blamed her for his death
Two years ago on a July afternoon, devoted mother Ann Blackwood cycled to the cemetery where her only son was buried.It was a visit she had made many times before in the 20 years since he had died, but that day was special – it would have been Christopher’s 36th birthday and she brought a pair of scissors and a bunch of orange roses, intending to leave a flower arrangement at his graveside.Martin Suter, her ex-husband, was also at the cemetery in Stubbington, Hampshire. The keen sailor knew the 71-year-old would visit and had waited in his car after arriving five hours earlier.As Ms Blackwood walked through the cemetery, Suter struck, stabbing her in the back with a 12-inch kitchen knife.When the handle broke off he used her scissors to inflict 19 further wounds to her neck and shoulders. The mother of their child never stood a chance.As Ms Blackwood lay dying on the ground, 68-year-old Suter dialled 999. ‘I have just murdered someone,’ he said. ‘I have just killed my ex-wife, I have stabbed her to death.’Suter said ‘his life had been ruined’ by Ms Blackwood and he ‘blamed her for his son’s suicide’. When the officer on the other end of the line said Suter sounded calm, he responded: ‘I won’t disturb the gardener.’Yesterday at Portsmouth Crown Court, Suter was jailed for a minimum of 27 years for murder. Ann Blackwood, 71, (pictured) was killed in an attack which showed 'wickedness beyond comprehension', her grieving family was told during the trial During the sentencing at Portsmouth Crown Court, Judge Michael Bowes KC told Suter he had committed an 'act of wickedness' and a 'dreadful crime' Although he had initially pleaded guilty to the offence, he then tried to retract his plea, dragging out the legal process and inflicting more pain and distress on Ms Blackwood’s traumatised family. But this was apparently typical behaviour for a domineering, controlling man who had made his divorce as unpleasant as possible for his ex-wife, from whom he had split 20 years previously.He was given a separate four-month sentence for a historic sexual assault on a girl aged under 14. Suter, who is said to suffer from autism, showed no emotion as he was jailed, and smiled as he left court. ‘No sentence I can pass can compensate Ann Blackwood’s family and friends for their devastating loss,’ Judge Michael Bowes KC said.‘You brutally murdered Ann Blackwood in the most cruel and agonising way you could – by stabbing her to death on her son’s grave. This is rightly characterised by her family and friends as an act of wickedness.’In a victim impact statement, Ms Blackwood’s brother John added: ‘The fact that such wickedness can exist and be perpetrated by one human being on another is alien to us and totally beyond our comprehension. Her life was pitilessly extinguished in such a savage way. It is something that our family will never be able to come to terms with.’Ms Blackwood’s death stunned all those who knew her.Described as a ‘loving, caring, kind-hearted mother and friend’, she had been enjoying an action-packed retirement filled with hobbies such as tennis, sailing, cycling and music. At her funeral, at which a poem called Happy by her dead son was read out, 250 friends and family packed the church to remember her.Ms Blackwood married Suter in 1987 and the couple settled in Lee-on-the-Solent, Hampshire. They had two children. Suter worked in the oil and gas industry as an engineer. He was also a long-term member of the Green Party, standing unsuccessfully in several council elections.But his real passion was for sailing. He owned a boat and would take part in races and excursions around the world, including in the British Virgin Islands, Sardinia and Sicily. Like his wife, he was a keen churchgoer. Martin Suter, 68, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 27 years for stabbing Ms Blackwood at the graveside of their late son Pictured: The scene in Crofton Cemetery in Stubbington, Hampshire, where Ms Blackwood was stabbed to death Following the attack, Suter phoned the police and told them: 'I have just killed by ex-wife' (Pictured: officers at the scene in July 2023)But tragedy struck in July 2003 when Ms Blackwood returned home from work to find 15-year-old Christopher dead, a day before the end of the school term.It is understood a coroner recorded the cause of the teenager’s death as ‘accidental’. In 2004, the boy’s parents divorced.Friends described the split as ‘acrimonious with financial implications’.Ms Blackwood moved into a £320,000 apartment in Lee-on-the-Solent. Suter set up home a mile away in an £800,000 detached property overlooking the sea. He has been with his second wife, Diane, for 18 years.Mrs Suter told the court that on the morning of the attack, her husband ‘left without saying goodbye’, something he did when he was in a ‘down mood’.She noticed a knife was missing from the block in the kitchen but said the thought that someone else might be at risk ‘never entered my head’ – instead fearing that he ‘might do something stupid to himself’.Having left his home at 10.20am, Suter drove the ten minutes to the cemetery. As well as the knife, he had some flowers which he had bought the previous day.Ms Blackwood arrived at 3.30pm. As she walked towards the grave, he launched his ferocious attack.Shortly after calling the police, he phoned Mrs Suter, telling her he had murdered his ex-wife whom he had ‘finished off’ with her own scissors.He added: ‘I know I’m going to prison, I may as well go for this,’ referring to the previous sex assault conviction.Suter told police he had taken the knife to trim the stems of the flowers he had bought.The judge ruled that he had taken it to attack his ex-wife, who he intended to kill. He added: ‘You brutally murdered her. You stabbed her 19 times and rapid death would have been inevitable. It was a dreadful crime.’
