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Thread: Pub ban for ill Husband who killed his wife

  1. #1
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    Pub ban for ill Husband who killed his wife

    A man with dementia who strangled his wife has been spared jail but banned from his local pub after a judge decided he was too unwell to go to prison.

    Edward Flaherty, 74, from Glasgow, admitted killing his wife last year after 52 years of marriage but insisted he had no memory of attacking her, a blackout blamed by medical experts on his advancing dementia.

    The judge, Lord Matthews, said Flaherty would normally have been jailed for "many years" for the crime but expert reports had made clear that his medical condition meant the prison system would be unable to cope with him.

    His only option was to tag Flaherty and impose a year-long "restriction of liberty" order banning him from leaving his home between 11am and 11pm every day. This meant Flaherty would be unable to visit his local pub, which is still frequented by his dead wife's relatives.

    "Sentencing you would just be a token gesture," the judge told Flaherty at the high court in Glasgow. "I am anxious to impose a sentence that restricts your liberty. You still go to the pub where you went with your wife. That must annoy her relatives. Not being able to go there will be a more meaningful disposal than a prison sentence which will not last long."

    Flaherty had confessed to the culpable homicide - the Scottish legal equivalent of manslaughter- of his 69-year-old wife after they argued when she refused to give him money to go to the pub.

    The prosecution refused to accept his plea and charged him with murder. But the jury convicted him of the lesser offence of culpable homicide after medical evidence confirmed his mental condition and revealed that his wife would have died after only slight pressure because her arteries were furred up.

    He moved some jurors to tears by saying it was a unique outburst. In their 52 years of "strong and firm" marriage, he had never struck his wife.

    After his arrest, he thought he had attacked his sister and had no idea of who was prime minister.

    Donald MacLeod, QC, his defence advocate, had told the court: "The report prepared for the court paints a picture of a man in significant physical and mental decline. There is a clear diagnosis of dementia setting in.

    "It is a progressive condition and ultimately he will need 24-hour care. I am deeply conscious there has been a death here, but this man is very unwell."
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/aug/05/scotland.ukcrime
    Boringgggggggggggggggg.

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    Re: Pub ban for ill Husband who killed his wife

    [quote author=Vegemite Kid link=topic=15548.msg956750#msg956750 date=1217998490]
    A man with dementia who strangled his wife has been spared jail but banned from his local pub after a judge decided he was too unwell to go to prison.

    [/quote]


    Man. Way to hit a guy where it hurts.

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