A Cambridgeshire mortgage broker who murdered his wife in order to claim her life insurance and pay off his debts has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 24 years. Robert Hammond, 47, faced a “surging mountain of debt and financial pressures” at the time he strangled his wife Sian Hammond, a trial at Cambridge Crown Court was told. Prosecutor Christopher Paxton KC said the defendant, also known as James, was in around £300,000 of debt and had paid off the arrears on his wife’s life insurance policy four days before her murder. Mr Paxton said that 46-year-old Mrs Hammond’s l…