While many people in the poker community look up to champions, it is best to remember that all poker players are just people too. This means that there are good and bad elements to the poker community but even with this in mind, the poker community have been shocked at the revelations surrounding Marcus Bebb-Jones. The former British Poker champ has been sentenced to 20 years in a United States prison for the crime of murdering his wife.
The crime took place over 16 years ago when the pair were living in Colorado and there must have been times when Marcus felt he had gotten away with his act. There is always an opportunity for justice though and so it proved. Marcus who is currently 49 years old murdered his wife Sabrina, who was 31 years old at the time of her death but it wasn’t until a skull was discovered in a national park in the US back in 2004 that the case started to move forward. Even then, it wasn’t until 2009 that Bebb-Jones was arrested in England for the crime. The prosecutors in the US made the claim that after Bebb-ones killed his wife; he made his way to Las Vegas where he ran up huge debts on the credit cards which were in his wife’s name. In court some of his spending was detailed and it included the rental of a Ferrari, designer brand clothing and prostitutes.
Poker success is no mark of a man
There was an attempted suicide in a hotel room which failed and Bebb-Jones then decided to leave the US and he returned to the United Kingdom with his son. It was upon his return to the UK that he became a regular player on the poker circuit with a high profile triumph at the Grosvenor Grand Prix event which took place back in 2007. Bebb-Jones picked up £90,000 for this win.
In court, Bebb-Jones made a statement to the family of his wife, saying;
I didn’t intentionally kill Sabrina, but what I did do was wrong and I ask for your forgiveness.
He initially appealed against being extradited to the States, an appeal which was lost in 2011 but before he stood trial, he pleaded guilty at a court hearing.
The family of Sabrina was in no mood for leniency and they implored the judge to impose the maximum sentence possible. A statement written by Sabrina’s father was read out in court by her brother, Mike Dang.
This terrible man. He took her life; he took our grandson away and our daughter for no reason.
The 20 year sentence was the maximum sentence that could have been imposed on Marcus Bebb-Jones.