A DEVOTED 78-year-old wife stabbed her Alzheimer’s suffering husband 17 times after cracking under the strain of caring for him.
Florence Thomson grabbed a carving knife and repeatedly plunged it into the chest of her husband Keith (79), leaving him on their bedroom floor covered in blood.
Lincoln Crown Court today heard that the frail, grey haired pensioner flipped because of the stress of caring for her husband of 40 years.
She then turned the knife on herself and when armed police went to the couple’s bungalow in Long Sutton, officers believed she posed such a threat they Tasered her twice.
Mr Thomson was rushed to hospital with ten stab wounds to his chest as well as wounds to his shoulder, hands and right thigh.
Mrs Thomson told police at the hospital: “I love my husband. I love him to bits. I lost it. I just flipped my lid.
“You always hurt the one you love and I hurt my husband. It was because of the stress. The pressure of moving house got to me. Please, please, I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I’m not an evil person.”
The incident happened just days after they moved into their new bungalow.
Mrs Thomson, now 79, of Sturton Way, admitted wounding Mr Thomson with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm on November 11. She was given a two year community order with supervision by probation officers.
Judge Michael Heath also imposed an indefinite restraining order which she can only visit her husband under supervision.
Mrs Thomson had spent five months on remand in prison. She was so frail that at court appearances she used a zimmer frame to walk from the prison van to the court cells.
Judge Heath said “This is a highly unusual and extremely sad case.
“There are very exceptional cases where justice should be tempered with mercy. This is one of them.”