Wife guilty of antifreeze poisoning

Kate Knight, 28, also caused Lee Knight brain damage and kidney failure in April 2005 when she laced his food with ethylene glycol on their seventh wedding anniversary.

A jury at Stafford Crown Court took eight hours to convict Knight, of Meir Hay, Stoke-on-Trent, following a three-week trial which heard that she stood to gain £130,000 from her husband's death.

The former brewery worker, who forged her partner's signature to take out two secret loans for £17,000, gasped as the verdict was announced. She had hoped to pay off mounting debts by netting £250,000 from her husband's death, but Mr Knight managed to survive despite spending 16 weeks in a coma after being admitted to hospital in April 2005.

Judge Simon Tonking remanded Knight in custody for sentencing on a date to be set, telling her: "I will be imposing a very considerable term of imprisonment."

In a statement read outside court by a Staffordshire Police spokesman, Lee Knight, 37, spoke of the impact on himself and the couple's nine-year-old son Jack.

"Kate has ruined my life and what she did will have a big effect on Jack's future," he said.

"It has been very stressful. I realised that my wife had left me. I lost my job, my house, everything I worked for and, worst of all, my son. I have hardly any independence any more - I need to have somebody with me all the time. I don't think I'll ever be able to work again."

Mr Knight, who lives with his parents in Stoke-on-Trent, said of his son: "I hope I can make things right for him. I'd like to have an extension built on mum and dad's house so there's a private space for me and my son. I'd like to take him on holiday."

Speaking of his ordeal, Mr Knight said: "It was very confusing until I started having treatment. I have kidney dialysis three times a week. But I have lots of good friends, who take me to the gym four or five times a week. My family have been really supportive."