The former partner of brutal killer Dale Tarbox has been given a suspended prison sentence after she helped him to withdraw money from the bank account of murdered woman Susan Howells.

Miss Howells, 51, was killed at Tarbox’s Bradford home but her body was not found for six months and today a judge heard how his then partner 64-year old Joan Arnold had used the deceased’s bank card on multiple occasions between May and July 2019 to withdraw just over £3,500 from her account.

Recorder Abdul Iqbal QC was told that Arnold, originally from Liverpool, had met Tarbox through an online dating site and he had exploited her significant vulnerabilities at the time.

Arnold had suffered from learning difficulties and she suddenly uprooted her life to move in with Tarbox, Bradford Crown Court heard.

She was said to have been entirely dependent on Tarbox who took away her phone and forced her to do his bidding.

The court heard that Arnold was aware that he had murdered Miss Howells and during her relationship with him it was made clear if she didn’t do what he said the consequences for her would be dire.

After using Miss Howells' card to withdraw cash Arnold gave the money straight to Tarbox and her only benefit was some cigarettes.

Arnold, who had no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to a charge of theft on the basis that she had been involved through coercion, intimidation or exploitation.

Sentencing Arnold to an eight-month prison sentence suspended for a year, Recorder Iqbal told her that the offending was particularly cruel because it was theft from a dead person’s account and she was aware that the victim had been murdered.

He said there may have been a dual purpose for Tarbox because the withdrawing of the money would have disguised the fact that Miss Howells was dead and it could have seriously prejudiced any subsequent murder investigation.

In December 2020, Tarbox, 40, was jailed for life for murdering Miss Howells, whose remains were eventually found in a shallow grave behind a caravan in Doncaster, but his initial 16-year minimum term was later increased on appeal to 18 years.

As part of her sentence Arnold, who had expressed remorse for her offending, was or-dered to comply with a tagged home curfew between 9pm and 7am for the next six months and take part in 25 rehabilitation activity days.

“I hope, despite what I regard as minimisation by you in the pre-sentence report, that you are truly embarrassed and ashamed of what you involved yourself in,” the judge told Arnold.