Multimillionaire Jailed: Girlfriend Found ‘Dead As A Doughnut’ After ‘Rough Sex’

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND — An English multimillionaire escaped a murder conviction, but will spend almost four years in prison for manslaughter for killing his girlfriend, who he said he found “dead as a doughnut” after an evening of “rough sex.”

The BBC reported John Broadhurst recently admitted to the Birmingham Crown Court he was guilty of causing over 40 injuries to Natalie Connolly’s body, which contributed to her death.

According to court testimony, on December 18, 2016, Broadhurst, 40, was aware Connolly was bleeding after he hurt her in their home in Kinver.

“Natalie was callously and cold-heartedly left fatally injured at the bottom of the stairs by Broadhurst, yet he didn’t call for help until 9:30 A.M., and then showed total disregard for what he had done when he spoke to the emergency services,” said Detective Inspector Victoria Downing.

Investigators found Connolly, 26, lying naked in a pool of blood. They determined she had died from blunt-force trauma and acute alcohol intoxication. A toxicology report revealed she also had traces of cocaine, amphetamines, and poppers in her system.

Broadhurst testified at trial that Connolly wanted to have “rough sex” with him, and that sometime in the early morning hours he had left his “woozy” girlfriend unsupervised.

Defense attorney Stephen Vullo said his client did not believe Connolly was in danger despite her extensive injuries.

However, prosecutors alleged that the property developer “totally lost it” the previous evening after he and Connolly returned from a soccer match. They also claimed a drunk and drugged-up Broadhurst beat up the mother of one to “teach her a lesson” after he may have discovered she was communicating with several men, including two ex-boyfriends.

And after Broadhurst told the court he sprayed Connolly’s face with bleach “because I didn’t want her to … look a mess,” prosecutors alleged the defendant was actually trying to cover his tracks.

“He feels remorse for it and always has done,” argued Vullo, who insisted the case was “about negligence and somebody losing a loved one” — not murder.

Countered Queen’s Counsel David Mason: “Whatever may have started willingly, there is no way that Natalie either consented or was able to consent to what John Broadhurst did to her after that, leading to her untimely, unseemly, and tragic death."

At sentencing, Judge Julian Knowles ruled the defendant “showed blatant disregard for a very drunk and injured woman” who died “in the saddest and most avoidable of circumstances.”

Knowles ordered Broadhurst to spend three years and eight months behind bars for manslaughter by gross negligence.

Connolly’s mother released a statement slamming the “callous” and “disrespectful” Broadhurst for never apologizing or showing remorse for the “heartless way in which he left Natalie at the bottom of the stairs, without any concern for her dignity or wellbeing.”

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