Mercy for carer who tried to strangle chronically-ill husband with dressing gown cord

Shirley Watts, 61, snapped after five years spent caring for Michael, 60, who is confined to a wheelchair by chronic arthritis and needs 24-hour help.

Over three days during the Christmas holiday she tried to throttle him, smother him with a pillow and push his head under water in the bath.

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Watts then called police, told them she had tried to kill her husband and pleaded: "Please come and get me, please come and get me."

But she returned to the bathroom and hit Mr Watts repeatedly over the head with his walking stick before police arrived.

Bristol Crown Court heard the couple had known each other since they were children and had been married for 25 years.

Martin Sheen, defending, said the attacks were completely "out of character" and that Watts, a supermarket check-out worker, had suffered a "mental impairment" as a result of the demands of being her husband's carer.

He continued: "She was not in a position to burden others with her problems.

"She was working full time while looking after Mr Watts. She had no assistance."

Derek Ryder, prosecuting, had told the court Watts was looking after her husband at their Cheltenham home on Christmas Day when she took a dressing gown cord and wrapped it around his neck. She broke down halfway through the attack and sobbed that she was sorry.

But on Boxing Day she jumped on top of her husband while he slept and tried to smother him with a pillow, shouting: "I'm going to kill you."

Mr Ryder said: "He managed to push her off and they fell to the ground.

"He suffered a slight injury to his head but that was all."

Then, on December 28, Watts pushed her husband's head under water in the bath before forcing water from the shower head into his mouth.

She stopped, called police but then returned to the attack, using the walking stick.

Mr Ryder said: "She struck him several times over the head saying 'I'm going to kill you'. But when she saw blood coming from his head she stopped. By this time the police had arrived."

Watts had admitted three counts of making threats to kill after a charge of attempted murder was dropped.

Sentencing her to 100 hours' community service, Judge Richard Field said he did not believe she intended to kill her husband.

He added: "It seems that it all became too much for you, but what you should have done was to call social services or your GP.

"Instead you let your feelings bubble up inside you and these three incidents were the result. I'm satisfied that they were completely out of character and a cry for help."

Watts, believed to have two children from an earlier marriage, was also given a two-year supervision order, meaning she can visit her husband only if accompanied by social services, who are looking after him while she lives with friends.