Silent Death - The Killing of Julie Ramage - By Karen Kissane

Julie and Jamie Ramage were the perfect middle-class Australian couple. They appeared to have it all: good looks, a nice home and children in private schools.But Julie walked out of their seemingly perfect marriage. And then, one day, he killed her. Beneath the veneer of perfection there had lain a relationship marred by affairs, obsession and a history of violence. Jamie confessed to the killing - but declared that he had been provoked and therefore not guilty of murder as his wife had driven him over the edge. Jamie's defence of provocation was successful and he is now serving a prison sentence for the lesser crime of manslaughter. The woman he strangled the life from and buried in a shallow grave had no voice in court and no way of telling her story. Silent Death tells Julie's story - but also takes us into the disturbing wider situation - how a killing took place in the comfort and security of a moneyed life; how friends and family either didn't see or think they should be involved. And it is the story of how a court case is about tactics and procedure first - and justice second.