Affair wife guilty of attempted murder

A woman who tried to kill her husband by slitting his throat after luring him to woodland on the promise of sex was found guilty of attempted murder today.

Joanne Hale was having an affair with a married man she met on the internet before plying her husband Peter with a sex drug and taking him to woodland in Stoke Park, Bristol.

Hale, 39, sobbed as she was found guilty of attempted murder by majority verdict at Bristol Crown Court.

Mr Hale, 43, took the natural aphrodisiac "horny goat weed" on December 27 last year believing he and his wife would be having sex in the woods.

The pair rolled about in the leaves before Mrs Hale attacked him, inflicting a 12cm long slash to his throat and then stabbed him, causing an almost fatal wound to his chest which caused lung collapse, cardiac arrest and heart damage.

Hale had struck up a relationship over the internet with married postal worker Philip Sudol who had travelled from Leeds to Bristol for a romantic liaison.

It is claimed she then left Mr Hale with a passerby, without saying she knew him or what had happened, before driving to Bristol Parkway and meeting Mr Sudol in person for the first time.

She picked him up from Bristol Parkway and after arriving at Hale's home in Hawksmoor Lane, Stapleton, police arrested both of them.

Mr Hale survived the attack and during his evidence he said his memory was "hazy" but he remembered seeing his wife before waking up in hospital.

Mr Sudol was released without charge and gave evidence at Hale's trial.

Mr Sudol and his wife were present in court throughout the trial and were visibly upset when the verdict was read out today.