A woman who plotted to murder her husband by putting anti-freeze in his cherry flavoured Lambrini on Christmas Day has been jailed.
Jacqueline Patrick, 55, poisoned her husband Douglas Patrick at their home in Gipsy Hill in south London, with the help of her 21-year-old daughter, Katherine, after an argument on Christmas Day.
When Mr Patrick was rushed to hospital on Boxing Day 2013 she gave doctors a fake note, allegedly from Mr Patrick, saying that he did not wish to be revived.
The note proved to be her undoing though, because of a spelling mistake. Mrs Patrick misspelt dignity as “dignaty” and when the police later asked her to spell the word she made the same mistake.
When doctors realised that Mr Patrick was a victim of anti-freeze poisoning, they called the police after Jacqueline said her husband may have mistakenly drunk the deadly blue liquid.
Douglas, who’s a London bus driver, had to fight for his life having survived a previous attempt by his wife to kill him two months before, by putting medication in his drink.
Prosecutor Sam Brown told the court:
There was a concerted, planned and persistent attempt to murder Douglas Patrick.
It was hoped the lethal dose and effects could be disguised as an adverse reaction to medication during that period or as a consequence of an attempt to take his own life.
Mr Patrick didn’t want to pursue a case against his wife and daughter and did not want to see them jailed, the court was told.
In a statement read to the court, Douglas Patrick said: “I will never get over it. It broke me. I’m just a shell now. This was a person I was married to for over 25 years. A person I loved and love.”
Mrs Patrick pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder while her daughter admitted a charge of inciting another to administer a noxious substance. She was given a sentence of 15 years for each charge to be served concurrently, and her daughter will spend three years in jail.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.