Wife killed husband for ignoring housework

A woman who stabbed her fourth husband to death with a pair of scissors when he ignored her command to tidy their house was jailed for nine years.

A jury dismissed Sandra Clinch’s claim that the death of her husband Alan, 48, was “a tragic accident” and found her guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, but not guilty of murder.

Truro Crown Court was told that Clinch, 49, lost her temper on 13 May when her husband did not come in from tending the garden to tidy their cottage at Darite, near Liskeard, Cornwall. He was airlifted to hospital but died from his injuries.

Clinch suffered from a personality disorder and uncontrollable mood swings, and had been abusive and violent towards previous partners and her five children, jurors were told.