Sponsored by
Wife kills husband in booze row
A Leeds woman has been jailed for life after stabbing her partner to death in a row over whose turn it was to buy booze from the off-licence.
David Rider, 44, bled to death after Lesley Buck, 40 , pictured, thrust a kitchen knife through his leg as he sat on the sofa.
When police and paramedics attended her house in Belle Isle, Leeds, Buck seemed more interested in reading the newspaper and watching TV, a court heard.
After delivering the fatal blow, Buck walked to a phone box to dial 999 and claimed her partner's injuries were self-inflicted.
But after she pleaded guilty to murder yesterday, Buck's barrister, David Hatton QC, said the attack was "for nothing more important than an argument as to who was to go to fetch the next instalment of alcohol."
Leeds Crown Court heard how a series of drunken 999 calls had been made from Buck's home on Old Run View in the months leading up to the death on August 7 last year.
Three months earlier Buck had received a formal police caution for assaulting Mr Rider with a glass at the property.
Neighbours had also described seeing Mr Rider slapping Buck across the face on another occasion.
The court heard how the couple both struggled with chronic alcohol problems.
Richard Mansell, prosecuting, said Mr Rider suffered a single stab wound that went all the way through his right thigh, severing an artery.
Tests showed he had drunk the equivalent of three-and-a-half times the legal drink-drive limit.
Mr Mansell said: "It seems clear that he was largely incapacitated by the effects of alcohol at the time of the stabbing and unresponsive to what happened."
Mr Hatton said Buck had intended to stab Mr Rider but not kill him. He said: "Her remorse and sorrow, and indeed her shame, are all as deep as they are genuine."
Ordering Buck to serve a minimum of 10 years before being considered for parole, judge Scott Wolstenholme, told her: "It was senseless, drunken and lethal violence on your part which has caused a man to lose his life."
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leeds
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
