Man "snaps' and kills wife, sentenced to 5 years

[snowballer]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-56109330

This is just so depressing. I understand it couldn't be shown to be premeditated and therefore murder, but how can it be such a short sentence in view of the fact she was found with keys in hand trying to escape and it wasn't therefore something that happened in the space of a few seconds? Manslaughter sentences can still be hefty - I just can't understand this. Just another devastating end of a life for a woman at the hands of a man, with another miserably short sentence for the perpetrator. Awful. Just awful.

@DudeistPriest interesting point. It often seems to be against women that men just 'snap' and can't control themselves.

@PlanDeRaccordement she repeatedly reached out for help, she contacted the local authority and others asking for support for her son as she couldn't cope, and neighbours reported her behaviour as being mentally unwell. She and her son were failed by the support systems in place meant to protect people, and by a national lock down which threw a lot of vulnerable people to the wolves. Damn right she is in the right place now, recieving medical support. Your comments are pretty disgusting actually.

I'm not sure how the legal system works but is there anything that can be done about this to get the courts to review their sentence. I would happily donate to a fund raising site to get this back in court - if that's possible.

@Plutoh
And yet most single mothers with disabled children didn’t “snap” and kill them during lockdown. Especially those that have 12hrs/week respite while a carer comes in like Olga did. I have a bit of sympathy for Olga, more than this fellow, Anthony Williams. But make no mistake, most of my sympathy is for the real victims- the innocents who lost their lives- Ruth and Dylan.
If you think that’s disgusting, then maybe you should think on unconscious bias and about why you are predisposed to be an apologist for a female child killer but condemn a male woman killer.

Mr Thomas said: "The overwhelming greatest tragedy is that a lady of 67 years who was in good health had her life ended at the hands of a man she had loved for nearly 50 years.

I hated this bit for some reason. As if the fact that she loved him for 50 years means he couldn’t deliberately wanted to kill her.

5 YEARS...only 5 years..just why, vicious bastard

Think it’s pretty clear he’s trying to hide a smirk here.

@PlanDeRaccordement I don't have 'sympathy' for her killing her son, I have sympathy for her as a human being who reached out for help, and was denied it. She didn't 'snap' anyway, as you seem so knowledgeable at the ins and outs of her case, I thought you would know that fundamental point as it's actually quite a crucial one. Of course my sympathy is with her son, but make no mistake, they were both failed. And how dare you decide that she had adequate support in place.

I do think it's disgusting, and again, comparing the 2 is disgusting. Work on your ignorance maybe.

Also it's highly unlikely she will be released from her section. Even if they manage to control her psychosis with medication, she will then need to come to terms with what she did, even though she wasn't in sound mind. That isn't a years worth of being an in patient. She has also had her face plastered all over the media and internet, so any release wouldn't be the same.

Meanwhile, he will be a free man in 5 years, and people don't hold women in high as a regard as children, so he will more than like slip back into normal life when he is out.

[quote puppygalore]@DudeistPriest interesting point. It often seems to be against women that men just 'snap' and can't control themselves. [/quote]
It may seem that way, but men statistically snap and kill other men twice as often than they snap and kill women. Men are 69% of homicide victims and women are 31%. About half of all homicides occur due to rage from an argument or as a revenge attack.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/homicideinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2018

Terrible, but I think this shows the problems with lockdowns.

Domestic violence and mental health should have been considered when deciding on lockdown policy.

@Plutoh
Whatever. I didn’t introduce Olga to this thread, another poster did and I was merely contributing to their comparison which minimised the killing of a disabled child. Both crimes were horrific.

I guess I'm in the minority but I can't get too worked up about this case. He admitted what he'd done, he's been sentenced, even when he gets out in a few years his life is basically over.

We all have moments when we do things we later regret. Usually it's something less tragic, like calling your child an insulting name, yelling at someone in the street or deliberately ramming someone's car. I think most people have had moments of extreme stress where they have done things out of character and which they cannot believe they did.

"Heat of the moment" killers usually make the best-behaved prisoners, are usually willing to engage with their treatment, and usually are at low risk of reoffending when they are released.

This case is sad, but it's also justice.

*It may seem that way, but men statistically snap and kill other men twice as often than they snap and kill women. Men are 69% of homicide victims and women are 31%. About half of all homicides occur due to rage from an argument or as a revenge attack.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/homicideinenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2018*

What this article doesn't make clear is whether this 'snap' argument results in a similarly derisory five year sentence for a man killing his female partner, or a man killing another guy in a fight. I'd need to have more details. Also, we don't know whether both parties in the male on male homicides were engaged in a fight that got out of hand, or whether one person just said something the other person didn't like, as in the case in the OP.

Personally I don't think that should be an excuse for murdering someone. We've all been under stress, had bad days. Many of us have suffered from anxiety and depression. I don't think that's a reasonable explanation for killing someone.

@Googlebrained
True. The ONS stopped tracking the outcome of male homicide suspects versus female homicide suspects after the 2016 release of 2015 data. In that report, the only clues we have as to whether men and women face equal justice are as follows:
“For those suspects where proceedings had concluded, 90% were male (257 suspects), 9% were female (26 suspects) and in 1% (2 cases) the homicides were corporate manslaughter (data not shown).

Among male suspects:

just under half (48%) of those indicted for a homicide offence and with a court outcome were convicted of murder
a third (33%) were convicted of manslaughter
12% were acquitted or their proceedings were discontinued
7% had another outcome.

For females indicted for homicide with an outcome:

17% were convicted of murder
42% were convicted of manslaughter
4% were convicted of a lesser offence
A third (33%) were acquitted or had their proceedings discontinued
4% had another outcome”

From Chapter 14. Suspects
www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/compendium/focusonviolentcrimeandsexualoffences/yearendingmarch2015/chapter2homicide#suspects

I read about this a few days ago. He's a murderer, not a victim. It takes time and effort to strangle someone - more than enough time to come to your senses and stop.

I feel so angry about this man breaking his wife’s neck with his bare hands and then being described as a “model husband” for 50 years. Because apparently not killing your wife makes you a model husband, even if you then go on to kill her. With your bare hands. Whilst she is trying to escape for her life. What a fucking low bar.
Anyway I felt so impotent but then completed the survey referenced by a PP, made sure to quote the trial and felt a very tiny bit better.
www.gov.uk/government/consultations/violence-against-women-and-girls-vawg-call-for-evidence

@DudeistPriest

If he "snapped" at work and murdered his straight, white male boss would be have got 5 years?

No you are wrong.

Actually, factually men snap and kill other men more often than women....rage against other men results in more killings.

@Hailtomyteeth

I read about this a few days ago. He's a murderer, not a victim. It takes time and effort to strangle someone - more than enough time to come to your senses and stop.

Yes it should be murder. If he hit her with an object and she died but it was a sustained attack where she was trying to run away.....

Review of the case must happen

@CovidLockdownmustend that wasn't the question Dude asked.

Actually, factually men snap and kill other men more often than women....rage against other men results in more killings.
But do they get 5 years for it if they murder someone who is considered a valuable citizen like a wealthy businessman who is respected in his community? I think it would be considered murder not manslaughter and they would get 20 years.

Not surprised, my mum was beaten black and blue by my father, in the divorce court he threatened to kill her, nothing was done, he emigrated and we never saw him again.

Now that was many years ago but a friend of mine was attacked with a heavy object, held under water, beaten up and raped.
The police never took any action, despite these attacks taking place several times.
Some of her neighbours even said "she must have drove him too it"
BUT after she left him, he came round, they had a verbal argument in which she asked him to go, he refused and she spat in his face - she spent 24hrs in the cells and got a caution.

All this happened in the early 2000's, nothing has changed.

That sounds horrific but not surprising thecats

The judge said:

It is also a tragedy that an act of a couple of minutes and one you immediately repented will define you for the rest of your life

Yeah, poor guy. You strangle one woman to death and that’s all anyone goes on about. What about all his good points?

Appalling. I’ve responded to the violence against women and girls survey.