It's more a case of the tabloids tipping a story into the novelty zone.
You have here a complex domestic situation.
A man with low self esteem entering into a financial transaction with a woman from a land with less economic opportunities.
Shades of mail order marriage, alleged domestic abuse of a man in a heterosexual relationship (something nobody seems to talk about but certainly does happen) and a murder.
If the man had collected ceramics those would have been the main components of the story (pottery just isn't 'pathetic' enough for tabloid readers).
Being working class and living on a modest estate, his life long collection was more probably plastic and being of a certain age, the chances of it being a Star Wars collection probably rather higher.
It's tragic for all involved but why tabloid writers and readers seem to think it's any of their business is a complete mystery to me.
It has pretty little to do with Star Wars.
Breaking something of symbolic and sentimental value is part of the repertoire of domestic abuse but it can also be a cry for attention in a relationship where one partner is obsessed with the superficial.
Fictional people are not as important as real people.