To quote Churchill, "And if you were my wife, I would drink it!"
Posted on 01/07/2008 9:17:27 AM PST by Stoat
A woman tried to kill her husband by poisoning him with anti-freeze after sinking into financial crisis, a court heard today.
Kate Knight, 28, set out to murder her husband Lee to clear mounting debts, a jury was told.
She considered a "number of methods", prosecutor Mr William Davis told the court, before settling on anti-freeze, which contains the potentially fatal chemical ethylene glycol.
Mr Knight, a former JCB employee, became "gravely ill" after ingesting the poison.
Mr Davis explained: "He suffered kidney failure and then brain damage and was fortunate to survive.
"He is still deaf and blind and his kidneys are damaged irreparably.
"He could well have died."
The combination of physical and neurological damage sustained by Mr Knight "is entirely consistent with somebody ingesting ethylene glycol", Mr Davis told Stafford Crown Court.
He added: "Mrs Knight's motive was, we say, financial. She had run up debts."
He told the jury that Mrs Knight had previously thought about killing her husband with Ecstasy tablets and an iron overdose, and had even confided her plot in a neighbour and asked a pharmacist about iron dosage.
The neighbour, Sarah Johnson, will appear in court during the course of the trial to give evidence against Mrs Knight who she alleges told her "It's worked" when her husband fell ill in April 2005.
Mr Davis also described how computer experts had uncovered internet records on the family computer which showed evidence of research into the side effects of Ecstasy and anti-freeze poisoning.
In one Google search, the user, logged in as Mrs Knight, asked: "Ecstasy - how fatal can 8 pills be?".
When Mrs Knight was arrested in May 2005, police searched the home she and her husband shared in Mere, Stoke-on-Trent, and discovered a one-litre bottle of Tesco anti-freeze containing 840ml of the fluid, Mr Davis said.
Mrs Knight denies the charge of attempted murder and disputes her neighbour's claims, Mr Davis told the jury. The trial is set to last four weeks.
"He is still deaf and blind and his kidneys are damaged irreparably.
"He could well have died."
(edit)
He added: "Mrs Knight's motive was, we say, financial. She had run up debts."
Life is so very cheap to some people....how utterly heartbreaking.
Hang her!
Has she heard of Divorce?
Exactly! Same result. Free from both debts and husband.
Must have been personal...
Note to self: When planning to kill someone, take the time to do the research at the public library. Using books.
I suppose that this option escaped her perceived range of options just as adoption is 'overlooked' by the pro-infanticide zealots. For some, it seems that it's just so much easier to kill.
OOoooh, she is one tough looking customer.
This is why you are not supposed to drain the radiator fluid onto the driveway and leave it there for the dogs to come and drink it up. They seem to love the stuff.
Murder or see a bankruptcy lawyer. Hmmmm, six of one, half dozen of another.
This is a bit more like the England I remember from the old days, the days of Jack the Ripper and other eccentric murderers, rather than slums full of terrorists and muggers, and police arresting citizens for carrying penknives or talking on cell phones while driving.
Agatha Christie could have written this story, with its neighboring wives hanging over the backyard fence, discussing poison dosages. How veddy, veddy British!
Traditionally, women have frequently opted for poisoning and knifing as murder methods, even when other less "close up", extended or painful options exist. Some believe that there is a twisted desire to inflict suffering.......
isn’t glycol one step from becoming some kind of sugar?
To quote Churchill, "And if you were my wife, I would drink it!"
As John Edwards will tell you — there are two Americas. On the one hand, you have rich people who have no financial worries. On the other hand, you have people who are so poor that they will poison members of their family to avoid their crushing financial burden. John Edwards wants to be the candidate for that second group.
From the looks of it she could’ve just rolled over in bed and called it accidental.
It is very sweet and therefore dangerous. I am really surprised that the government hasn't required a bittering agent added to it to eliminate its good taste. I touched my mouth after working on my car and realized that it had antifreeze on it. It would be scary to have it open around a child or pet.
Has to be one of the all-time great comebacks.
He probably had a life insurance policy.
"Here just put a pinch of this in her tea., Oh!, you've already done away with her, very good."
Thanks for posting the picture....the Daily Mail hadn’t put that up when I linked the article.
Another 28 year-old who looks fifty and finds it so easy to obtain exstacy pills that they are considered an equally-valid option as grocery-store antifreeze.
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