Man who strangled wife after years of abuse jailed

Stuart Robertson, 69, was cleared of murder

A man who strangled his alcoholic wife after claiming he suffered years of "unrelenting abuse" from her has been jailed.

Stuart Robertson, 69, was cleared of murder by a jury but had admitted manslaughter at the start of his trial.

Liverpool Crown Court heard his wife Dawn, 62, had referred to him as her "slave" and the judge said the case bore hallmarks of "classic battered spouse syndrome".

Robertson, from Cannon Street in St Helens, Merseyside, was jailed for six years.

'Battered spouse'

Robertson claimed Mrs Robertson had told him he was not the father of their son in the moments before he strangled her.

But judge Andrew Menary KC said Robertson had only made the claim just before his murder trial began.

He said although he could not be sure she did make the comment, he was sure Robertson would not have believed them.

“If those words were said this was just more vile nonsense uttered by this drunken woman who regularly made your life a misery," Judge Menary said.

During the week-long trial the court heard there was a long history of police call-outs to the couple’s home before the violence unfolded on 15 November last year.

On that day Robertson walked into St Helens police station and confessed to killing the mother-of-two a few hours earlier.

The retired warehouse manager said Dawn, who was his second wife, used to drink up to two and a half bottles of brandy every day and would start drinking as soon as she got up in the morning.

That day she verbally abused him and came towards him, pointing her finger at him and said he was her slave, the jury heard.

'Psychological harm'

Robertson put his hands around her neck and squeezed.

"The next thing I knew she was dead," he told the court.

Asked why he had strangled her, he said he had "just wanted her to shut up with the abuse".

Judge Menary said Robertson had described his wife as "a perfectly delightful person when sober but pretty horrible after she had had drink".

They had both struggled with drink for many years until Robertson stopped about a decade ago.

The judge said a psychiatrist found episodes of controlling and coercive behaviour over the years resulting in isolation from family and friends with "unrelenting abuse".

"There was evidence of significant psychological harm with classic symptoms of battered spouse syndrome," the judge said.

He sentenced Robertson on the basis of loss of control, and had described Mrs Robertson as "vulnerable" and a "slightly-built, pathetic drunk".

In an impact statement the couple’s two children told how they had left home as soon as they could to escape the "chaos of their parents' home".

The case meant they had lost their mum and had "had to relive memories they had tried to forget".

"You took a life you had no right to take," they said.

"Your issues as a couple should never have got this far and now you have to live with what you have done."