'You're no criminal': Judge frees jealous wife who laced her cheating husband's cake with rat poison

Yvonne Godwin, 56, who trained as a chef, claimed she wanted to make her husband Robert too ill to see his mistress  -  but did not plan to kill him.

Godwin said she had been 'driven over the edge' after discovering his affair with her best friend's sister.

When told she would not go to prison she fainted in the dock  -  while her husband had to be escorted from the court by police in case he was attacked by her family.

Yvonne Godwin, who worked in a hospital kitchen, was spared jail after baking a cake laced with poison for her cheating husband, Robert

He had written to the judge on her behalf, but the jury at Gloucester Crown Court heard she had endured decades of abuse at his hands. She was also recovering from cancer at the time of the poisoning incident.

Godwin discovered in March that her partner of 30 years was having an affair, and told a neighbour she hated him and 'wanted him dead'. Prosecutor Lisa Hennessy said the neighbour contacted police after Mrs Godwin told him she had made 'a nice fruitcake' for her husband.

Police were sent to the couple's home in Cheltenham but Mrs Godwin denied the poisoning plot.

However, a day later she went back to police and admitted she had lied, and that
had put poison in a fruitcake for Mr Godwin.

Analysis showed she had used only two teaspoons of poison and would have needed to dramatically increase the dose to make it deadly.

Blue blobs of the poison could be seen on the outside of the cake. Prosecutor Lisa Hennessy said: 'It was certainly not a professional attempt.'

Neither of the Godwins was said to have suffered any ill-effects.

Emily Durston, defending, said: 'Mrs Godwin wanted to make Mr Godwin ill so that he wouldn't leave the house. Effectively she wanted to stop him from leaving the house so he wouldn't go to see his mistress. Miss Durston said Godwin also tried to poison herself with the cake 'because she was desperate, she was at breaking point'.

Godwin admitted to trying to poison her husband, a retired builder. However, Judge Jamie Tabor QC said he believed her actions were a cry for help in the couple's troubled relationship, and not an attempt at murder.

Yvonne Godwin (circled) leaves Gloucester Crown Court after she was spared jail for administering poison

The couple divorced 17 years ago, rekindled their relationship a year later and had been living as man and wife, but never remarried. Judge Tabor said letters from Godshewin's five children revealed she had suffered years of physical and verbal abuse, and her medical records showed she had complained of domestic violence since the 1970s.

He said he had also received a letter from Mr Godwin, who had asked his former wife to go back to him, and added: 'He pleads for mercy on her behalf.'

Robert Godwin was believed to have been having an affair with Julie Morrison

He gave Godwin a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and banned her from entering the borough of Cheltenham or contacting Mr Godwin for a year.

'You were recovering from cancer, you were in an abusive relationship and you discovered that your husband  -  not himself in the first blush of youth  -  was being unfaithful to you,' he said.

'If you had simply poisoned him because he had been unfaithful you would not be escaping being sent to prison, but there was a great deal more going on in your life.

'I am going to prohibit you from contacting your husband for a period of a year to allow you to recover your equilibrium. Then and only then can you decide if you want to have anything further to do with him.'

Mr Godwin refused to comment, but at an earlier hearing he insisted that his wife was innocent and should not have been charged.

He said: 'I don't think she put poison in anything. There's nothing wrong with me. She is a wonderful woman and a loving, caring person.'

Godwin left the court in tears, and had to be physically supported by her children.

They said she had stopped replying to her husband's letters while in custody before the trial and was trying to rebuild her life.

Friends said Godwin was 'a wonderful cook' who had worked at a local hospital until her cancer diagnosis five years ago. 'People see her as the victim,' said one.

'Everyone feels sorry for her and no one has an iota of sympathy for Robert.'

Mr Godwin is believed to have been having an affair with Julie Morrison, a widow of 41.

The cake laced with poison that Godwin fed to her husband. Blue blobs of the rat killer can be seen in the cake