Posted on 11/20/2009 12:33:53 PM PST by Cardhu
A man who strangled his wife during a nightmare in which he dreamed he was attacking an intruder has been freed.
Brian Thomas, 59, was released after the prosecution withdrew the case against him at Swansea Crown Court.
It had been seeking a special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity but said later there would be no purpose in sending Mr Thomas to a psychiatric hospital.
Family members who were in court for the hearing, greeted the news with a jubilant cry of "yes".
Mr Thomas' brother Raymond spoke of his relief as he left court.
"Family and friends are truly delighted by the outcome today. They were a loving couple and always like that together.
"He has always been a loving husband and a family man.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
I have a very hard time buying into these sleeping defenses.
I heard a case that a diabetic man killed his wife and does not remember a thing and that medically it is possible.
Even if he was dreaming or can’t remember it (which I don’t believe) who cares, he still did it. This country is a sad sack when murderers can walk away with excuses like this ...
I’ve been hoping my wife comes down with a bad case of sexsomnia. Oh those fantastic sleepless nights...
but its different if someone says he had a "nightmare"????
so don't execute him...but give him some jail time to show the next guy who pulls this excuse that the law won't be so lenient......
its like the guy who was using the cell phone, speeding, lost control of his car, did a 180 , went up the other side of the highway and crashed head on into a truck with 5 kids in it.....all 5 kids DIED...
his excuse....he had a coughing spasm that knocked him out momentarily....and the jury bought it....funny, you think if one is capable of being knocked out from a coughing spasm that driving priviledges would be restricted..nope, not him....free as a bird...
You live in Great Britain?
And yes, I agree it is a sad sack.
And it’s the first time in his 59 yrs that he had a nightmare & reacted that way? I don’t buy it either.
Whatever happened to the old guy who dreamed a deer was goring him and tried to break his wife’s neck?
Even if it is a real disorder, it’s illegal in Great Britain to kill someone in self-defense. So he should still go to jail
Since he had a mental disorder and things like this had happened before according to the article, I can see letting him off. It’s completely different than killing someone while driving drunk.
Are you saying that people should go to jail for self-defense? Or just that you think the laws of Great Britain dictate that he should go to jail in this case?
And his old lady was still sleeping with him??? Sounds like suicide to me.
I do believe this is possible. Three generations, at least, of sleep-walkers amongst the men in my family. I dislocated my shoulder whilst trying to tackle a guy who had stolen my wallet. Problem was, it was a dream.
WARNING TO THOSE WHO HAVE A HISTORY OF SOMNAMBULATION;
DO NOT TAKE AMBIEN!
For some reason, it exacerbates the syndrome. I almost burnt my house down when I was on this medication. There are many examples of this problem. Just do a search using “Ambien sleepwalking.”
In Great Britain, if you’re a homeowner and someone breaks into your house, you’re not allowed to use disproportionate force in self-defense. I would assume, strangling someone to death would be considered disproportionate.
Jail him for something that wasn’t in any way his fault?
Drink and Drugged drivers go to jail because they CHOSE to imbibe substances that would impair their ability to drive. Same with people who use mobile phones at the wheel.
This guy had a medical condition that he did not make any choices at any point that could have reasonably prevented this....
If by ‘disproportionate’ you mean ‘tie him up and torture him to death’ then yes, that would be the case, but tackling a burglar in your own home and killing him in the process won’t see you go to jail.
If you are about to refer to the case of Tony Martin, its worth pointing out that the burglar was running away at the time and Martin shot him in the back....
I wonder if there was a history of abuse prior to him killing her...
Excuse the digression, but in response to the above, I am diabetic and have not experienced anything remotely resembling the criminal compulsion cited in the example above. Also, in all my reading on the subject of diabetes, I've not seen it either. Of course, that doesn't prove it couldn't happen. Low blood sugar induces a state characterized by hunger, jitters/irritability, and sweating, among other symptoms. If blood glucose is allowed to go too low, a coma and possible death could be the outcome. I've experienced low blood sugar but have always remedied it promptly. I don't think I would be prompted to strangle anyone no matter how low my blood glucose level became. In other words, I believe the proclivity toward committing such a heinous act must have been present.
So maybe the article forgot to mention that this defendant dreamed that he was being attacked somewhere outside of Britain, where it was legal to kill in self-defense.
If this had happened before, his wife should have been sleeping in another, locked room.
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