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Debt-ridden woman's 'death by anti-freeze plot' goes wrong after husband survives
The Daily Mail (U.K.) ^ | January 7, 2007

Posted on 01/07/2008 9:17:27 AM PST by Stoat

Debt-ridden woman's 'death by anti-freeze plot' goes wrong after husband survives

Last updated at 16:44pm on 7th January 2008

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.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: antifreeze; botchedmurder; kateknight; murder; murdermostfoul; sociopath
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To: TexGuy
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.

It has a sweet taste, especially when used in Chinese tooth paste as a low-cost glycrine substitute.

21 posted on 01/07/2008 9:34:39 AM PST by Gorzaloon
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To: Stoat
"Ecstasy - how fatal can 8 pills be?".

Fatal is fatal is fatal is fatal. There are different degrees of fatal? LOL.

22 posted on 01/07/2008 9:35:50 AM PST by jdm (A Hunter Thompson ticket would be suicide.)
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To: TexGuy

“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.”

Of course they do. It’s very sweet. You can tell from the smell of a broken hose, and I’ve gotten a taste of some working around cars. It’s a very sweet substance that a dog or cat would lap right up.


23 posted on 01/07/2008 9:37:48 AM PST by brownsfan (America has "jumped the shark")
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To: ErnBatavia

aahh... money.. always follow the money. Evil wife.


24 posted on 01/07/2008 9:38:41 AM PST by Ancient Drive
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To: Stoat

This is far from a totally isolated case, either. Makes me downright paranoid to get married or trust anyone FULLY (maybe make them eat the food first lol)

“Oh, this is so rare.” Tell that to the men whose deaths HAVENT been recorded as a poisoning or murder. And in most cases, from the accounts of everyone involved, the guy is NOT a bad guy. But being dead, the woman (if caught) can malign his character (See Winkler in Tennessee) or claim he’s a wife beater or drunkard or anything. And when the entire family and all his friends come to his defense the feminists and/or the judges will simply dismiss them as being ‘biased’ in favor of the demonic man abusing the poor little woman.

And in most cases, it’s either another lover and/or financially motivated.


25 posted on 01/07/2008 9:46:44 AM PST by Skywalk (Transdimensional Jihad!)
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To: Stoat
anti-freeze, ... contains the potentially fatal chemical ethylene glycol.

Especially when mixed with dihydrogen-monoxide.

26 posted on 01/07/2008 9:49:24 AM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (Being an idealist excuses nothing. Hitler was an idealist.)
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To: Cicero
Agatha Christie could have written this story, with its neighboring wives hanging over the backyard fence, discussing poison dosages.

I wonder if at trial the neighbor will be asked "and when you became aware that Mrs. Knight was planning to murder her husband, did you consider going to the police?  If not, why not?" And if so, why didn't you?"

Nice neighbor.

27 posted on 01/07/2008 9:51:32 AM PST by Stoat (Rice / Coulter 2012: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
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To: Skywalk

And considering the typically favorable position the woman is in when engaged in matters of divorce, she still finds it preferable to murder him....over money.

What a black, black heart.


28 posted on 01/07/2008 10:01:12 AM PST by Stoat (Rice / Coulter 2012: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
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To: PeterFinn
OH my gawd, she looks like one of those nannies on the television.

If she were to do this crime in the United States, she would get away with it. All she would have to do is claim, 1) she was beaten as a child, 2) her husband just wanted her to be a stay at home mom, 3) claim her husband was a conservative, 4) claim her husband forced her NOT to have abortion, and 5) claim her husband was favor of the Iraq War and support the troops.

In the United States, she would get the sympathy vote from jurors and her husband would not only pay for the debts. He would also have to pay all court and attorney costs, pay ehr alimony for the rest of her natural life, lose the house and all his possessions to her but he would end up in prison for some trumped up charge the ACLU and her liberal attorney thought up.

Only in the United States.

29 posted on 01/07/2008 10:10:42 AM PST by antiunion person (Thompson 2008)
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To: antiunion person

We have a woman in jail in our community right now for poisoning her husband with anti-freeze. She is thought to have killed her first husband in the same way. Also, she tried to kill her daughter with anti-freeze and pin the second husband’s death on her in a fake suicide note.


30 posted on 01/07/2008 10:28:47 AM PST by Emrys (Fashion says "Me, too." Style says, "Only me.")
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To: Stoat
"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."

Wow. If she thought she was in debt before!

31 posted on 01/07/2008 10:30:05 AM PST by robertpaulsen
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To: Stoat
In one Google search, the user, logged in as Mrs Knight, asked: "Ecstasy - how fatal can 8 pills be?".

On top of all that, she's a blithering idiot.

32 posted on 01/07/2008 10:30:48 AM PST by dfwgator (11+7+15=3 Heismans)
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To: dfwgator
In one Google search, the user, logged in as Mrs Knight, asked: "Ecstasy - how fatal can 8 pills be?".

On top of all that, she's a blithering idiot.

Reminder to self:  Breathtakingly stupid women who also happen to be eye-gougingly ugly have traditionally been the most dangerous.

My recollection of mugshot collections of female murderers is one of a long line of homely and oftentimes brutally ugly women, all with a vacuous or a piercingly evil gaze

33 posted on 01/07/2008 10:47:48 AM PST by Stoat (Rice / Coulter 2012: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
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To: Stoat
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.

Deaf and blind? I'm not sure how fortunate he is. Damn.

34 posted on 01/07/2008 11:06:30 AM PST by scan59 (Let consumers dictate market policies. Government just gets in the way.)
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To: scan59
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.

Deaf and blind? I'm not sure how fortunate he is. Damn.

This "failed" murder effort may well end up resulting in Mr. Knights premature loss of his life anyway, if not by his damaged physiology then by his own hand.  Hopefully he will receive the very best in care and support, but oftentimes that simply isn't enough.

35 posted on 01/07/2008 11:43:08 AM PST by Stoat (Rice / Coulter 2012: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
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To: Skywalk
"And in most cases, from the accounts of everyone involved, the guy is NOT a bad guy."

Any guy who doesn't do what his wife wants him to is a bad guy.

36 posted on 01/07/2008 2:03:47 PM PST by GourmetDan
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To: Emrys

There are some seriously sick people in this world. The major problem is the liberals give them second and third and even more chances to do it again and again and they do. How many people have to be injured, hurt or murdered in order to stop nonsense like this?


37 posted on 01/07/2008 5:07:28 PM PST by antiunion person (Thompson 2008)
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