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Man who strangled wife while having nightmare, walks free
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent20 Nov 2009
A husband who strangled his wife in his sleep walked free from court today when the prosecution dropped the charges.
Brian Thomas, 59, throttled her during a nightmare believing he was attacking an intruder in their camper van.
After three days of a trial at Swansea crown court, Crown lawyers decided there would be no point in sending Thomas to a psychiatric hospital.
The court erupted with shouts of “yes” as family members greeted the outcome.
At the opening of the trial, Paul Thomas QC, prosecuting, told the jury that they would not be considering a verdict of guilty to murder or manslaughter.
Instead they should return either a “special verdict of not guilty of murder by reason of insanity” or simply not guilty.
Thomas, who was suffering from a sleep disorder, accepted he caused the death of his wife Christine, 57, while they were on holiday in Aberporth, west Wales.
Thomas, of Neath, south Wales, had been happily married for 40 years with two grown-up daughters. He had a history of sleep disorder.
On the night Mrs Thomas died in July last year, the couple had parked their camper van in a car park but were disturbed by passers-by. At 3.49am the following today Thomas made a 999 call to police saying he thought he had killed his wife.
He said he had been dreaming he was fighting with the “boy racers” who had caused trouble earlier that night.
Thomas told police he thought one of them had broken in and that he had put him in a headlock, but when he woke up he realised it was Christine and that she was dead.
Thomas was assessed by sleep experts who concluded he had killed his wife in the middle of a sleep disorder when his behaviour was involuntary.
During the trial the court heard that Thomas's nightmare could have been caused when he stopped taking the medication to control his sleep disorder. He came off tablets to have sex with his wife on their holiday.
High Court judge Mr Justice Davis told Thomas that in the eyes of the law he bore no responsibility for what he had done. He described him as a “decent man and devoted husband”.
Reader views (8)
He committed murder - knowingly or unknowingly - but that is still breaking the law.
He should have got a sentence for it.
- Jiten Shah, London, 20/11/2009 16:28
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I feel so sorry for this man and through experience know he is telling the truth.
I had an ex partner who had a sleeping disorder. He would talk, kick and literally run around the house in his sleep. One particularly terrifying night I woke up to him sat over me trying to push the quilt over my head, I was so scared I just started screaming. He eventually woke up looking dazed and confused with no clue as to why I was so distraught. His sleeping problems became such problem for me (not for him he was blissfully unaware) that I became an insomniac who took to sleeping in the living room with the door barricaded; we eventually split.
- Andi, birmingham, 20/11/2009 15:13
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How sad when they had been married for 40 years. I really feel for him.
- Claire, Stone,UK, 20/11/2009 14:53
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I'm really pleased this been the out come. The poor, poor man will never recover from this, but I hope he gains some normality of life. Good luck
- Colin, London, 20/11/2009 14:44
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Another way to walk free.
- Edwin Underhill, beaconsfield, bucks, 20/11/2009 14:03
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The poor man! Anyone who has had sleep-walking patterns will understand: I really feel for him and his family.
- Roz, France, 20/11/2009 13:56
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I remember a good number of years ago a man strangled his wife and claimed that he had dreamed that a Japanese soldier was attacking him. He was acquitted although I remained skeptical until very recently.
A few weeks back I was having a very vivid dream that I was playing football and involved in a very physical game. As I am getting up from tackling an opponent he takes a swing at me but before the blow lands I am able to give him martial arts style punch right on his nose. The next thing I know my wife is shouting "What the **** did you do that for?" and rushing to the bathroom claiming that "you've broken my nose!". Luckily, despite a little blood I hadn't.
I have never had a dream like that before, although over the last year I have had problems sleeping. A few weeks on it is the subject of a few laughs but it made me think back to the chap who strangled his wife and wondered what may have happened if I had been attacked with a knife. Now we have this case and I must say that my skepticism has diminished considerably.
- Mark, South-East London, 20/11/2009 13:23
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What an awful thing to happen. Even though he has walked free, the fact that his wife is dead will punish him forever. The poor man.
- Nat, London, 20/11/2009 12:49
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