A British man confessed in court to murdering his partner in their Italian dream home – claiming she was ‘obsessively jealous’ and beat him.
Michele Faiers, 66, a mother-of-three, was discovered dead by police in October 2023 in the house in the Italian hilltop village of Verratti that she shared with her partner, retired IT consultant Michael Whitbread, 75.
The mother-of-three’s body was found by a friend in the first-floor bedroom, covered by a sheet. She was dressed only in her underwear and had been stabbed seven times in the back.
Speaking at the Lanciano court during his trial, Mr Whitbread said: ‘I wish I hadn’t done it and I apologise.’
According to new reports from the Italian public broadcaster RAI, this was the first time that Mr Whitbread accepted guilt for his partner’s death, which happened on October 29, 2023.
Mr Whitbread also sent an apology letter to Ms Faiers’ daughters, RAI’s TGR Abruzzo regional news reported.
However, Mr Whitbread also blamed his partner’s ‘obsessive jealousy’ for his actions and said Ms Fraiers beat him.
In fact, Ms Faiers was herself allegedly attacked by Mr Whitbread after a furious row between the couple just weeks before she died.
Michael Whitbread (right), 75, confessed in court to murdering his partner Michele Faiers (left), 66
The home of Michelle Faiers and Michael Whitbread in Verratti, Italy, where Michele’s body was found
Mr Whitbread, 75, is lead out of court by an officer after confessing to the murder of his partner
The attack left her ‘covered in bruises’ and ‘fearing for her life’ according to testimony from her close friend Petrina Keay – who later found her lifeless body at her farmhouse home in Contrada Verratti in the Italian province of Chieti – near to the town of Casoli.
Police were told that Michele ‘doubted her partner’s fidelity’, and that she was ‘thinking of leaving him and going back to England’.
She is said to have become ‘upset and suspicious’ about him after she saw him slap a female friend on the bottom at a New Year’s Eve party.
The prosecution file reveals Michele confided her doubts about Whitbread in her friend Petrina and was forced to sleep at her home for a week at the beginning of October 2023 after a violent row.
Petrina told detectives the ‘furious fight’ between Michele and Whitbread, had left her friend ‘fearing for her life’ and she had opened up to her about the bitter relationship in the days leading up to her death.
Michele was found dead on November 1 when Petrina called round, after becoming worried when she failed to return messages and found her lifeless in the bedroom.
Police have established she was killed four days earlier and Whitbread was held by British police in Shepshed near Loughborough, Leicestershire, after driving across Italy, Switzerland and France.
He was arrested at his daughter’s house – just hours after Michele was found – after she reportedly alerted police he was at her home after reading reports of the death on MailOnline.
Ms Faiers’ daughters speak to one of the lawyers at the courthouse where Mr Whitbread’s trial took place
Ms Faiers was found inside her rural home in Contrada Verratti in the Italian province of Chieti – near to the town of Casoli.
Police have been told that Michele ‘doubted her partner’s fidelity’, and that she was ‘thinking of leaving him and going back to England’
Faiers and Whitbread’s Italian home is seen cordoned off by police back in November 2023 – two months after Michele was found murdered
Michael Whitbread, right, was arrested in England on suspicion of murder after Michele Faiers, left, was found dead at her home
Whitbread was described by neighbours to police as ‘always a bit tipsy’ while Michele was said to be ‘calm and serene’.
Police used CCTV to establish that Whitbread had the couple’s home in the early hours of October 29 in their Jeep Compass and began the 1,000 mile drive to the UK.
Traffic cameras picked him up crossing from Italy into Switzerland near Lake Maggiore at 4pm that afternoon, while his last cell phone ping was earlier that afternoon from nearby Como.
Mr Whitbread’s defence team have asked for a psychiatric consultant, who will be appointed by the court on February 7.
A prosecuting lawyer said: ‘It was really important for him [Mr Whitbread] to take responsibility like that, not only for the trail but also as an act of human decency. Although I don’t know how useful they are now, after all this time’.
