Thai carer who beat her lover to death denied parole in UK

A Thai woman in the UK who beat her elderly lover to death with a hammer has been denied parole and permission to move to an open prison.

Bunthawee Rimmer, who was 49, at the time of the killing, was jailed for a minimum of 11 years in July 2012 for the murder her lover Paul Norfolk, 77 years old.

Rimmer killed Norfolk with a hammer as he slept at home, before trying to take her own life. She was found by police officers next to her lover’s body in the house they shared in Haverhill, Suffolk, in December 2011.

Rimmer had head injuries and was unconscious. She had taken an overdose but survived. She told police she believed Norfolk planned to throw her out of his home, a claim which a judge rejected. Norfolk had recently changed his will, leaving £340,000 to the woman described as his “carer.”

Rimmer accepted killing Norfolk, but denied murder and claimed diminished responsibility, blaming the depression she was suffering from at the time.

Now 59, Rimmer became eligible for parole after serving her minimum term this year.

Her appeal in August was rejected in September, with the parole board refusing to recommend her for a transfer to an open prison. She will be eligible for a new hearing in 2024.

Rimmer arrived in Britain in 1998 with her late husband Geoffrey Rimmer. Rimmer, who died from natural causes, was a close friend of Norfolk. The pair travelled to Thailand regularly during the 1990s.

Bunthawee started a sexual relationship with Norfolk in 2010 after she was employed to care for his wife Esme, who suffered from Alzheimer’s and started living with Norfolk when his wife suffered a stroke and was taken into care.

Norfolk first changed his will in early 2011 to leave his house to Rimmer and then again in October 2011 to leave her any cash left in the estate.

At her two-week trial at Ipswich Crown Court in March 2012, the jury was told that Rimmer murdered Norfolk in the early hours of December 30, 2011, by hitting him 12 times on the head with a hammer.

Speaking through an interpreter, Rimmer said that she had felt sad because Norfolk told her he wanted to ‘dump her.’ She said…

“I have never thought of killing Mr Norfolk. I love him. I have no reason to kill him.”