SQUEAKY BUM TIME
Fantasist husband who poisoned his wife with laxatives starts three and a half years in jail
A TWISTED husband who poisoned his wife with laxatives and stole her money was jailed for three-and-a-half years yesterday. David Smith fabricated an elaborate web of lies, pretending he had cancer and telling wife Elizabeth he was a millionaire who had been in the SAS. Tearful Elizabeth said: “He put me through threeand-a-half years of hell. He got what he deserved.” Smith embarked on his reign of terror during
their three-year relationship, which began in 2012 when they met while shopping in Ayr, where Elizabeth lives. Smith, 62, who is from Telford in Shropshire, and Elizabeth were soon in regular contact. Elizabeth fell in love with someone she believed was “a wonderful, wonderful man”. The Record previously told how she said: “We got on so well from day one. I just thought I had met the perfect man. “But he poisoned me and stole thousands from me.” The lies began straight away, with Smith falsely claiming that he owned a factory which made top secret components for the MoD which he was planning to sell in a multi-million pound deal. He also lied that his first wife was a ballerina who died in a car crash. The chancer – in reality a former tool-maker – even told the nail technician that he had been one of the SAS’s 1980 Iranian embassy siege heroes.
The couple married on Arran in January 2015 but Elizabeth was so gaunt and unwell that her family thought she was dying.
On one occasion, she passed out in a bathroom and woke up covered in diarrhoea and vomit with father-of-three Smith hovering over her.
In fact, her husband was poisoning her by regularly slipping laxatives into food he had prepared for her, leaving her so thin and weak that she could hardly stand.
While his wife worried that she had motor neurone disease or another life-threatening condition, Smith was taking money from her bank account without permission.
Smith’s tangled web of deceit finally unravelled when he staged a bizarre break-in at their home and Elizabeth worked out that he had been lying to her.
Smith pleaded guilty to culpable and reckless conduct at Ayr Sheriff Court last month and was sentenced by sheriff John Montgomery yesterday.
The sheriff told Smith he had caused “physical and mental anguish” to his victim and was guilty of a “prolonged and evil course of criminal conduct”.
He added: “It’s clear to me you must have known the effect of the maladministration of laxatives over a prolonged period.”
Elizabeth, 62, cried tears of relief as the sentence was read out. She said: “He put me through three-and-a-half years of hell so it’s fitting that was what he got.
“He put me through so much mental and physical anguish. He got what he deserved.
“It’s fantastic that it’s over and I have got my life back. I just want to let it all sink in and get my head round everything I’ve been through.”
The years with her husband took a huge toll on Elizabeth.
She said: “It has been a hellish ordeal. I am glad I came to court today so that I could get some closure and move on with my life.
“I thought I was going to collapse at the end. I am emotionally and physically drained.
“I am happy because I was scared he would walk away free.
“It’s an eye for an eye. It’s not sunk in. He showed no emotion when he got sent down.
“He is cold, emotionless and a manipulator. Maybe now he can think of how he’s ruined my life and everyone elses.
“It was really hard for me to come to court but I felt I had to. I wanted to see justice being done.”
I am glad I came to court today so that I can move on with my life ELIZABETH