You evil b ***** d. You killed my sister
Husband cleared of killing Maureen confronted as he leaves court a free man
THIS is the dramatic moment a man cleared of killing his wife is confronted by her grieving sister as he leaves court.
Neil Crilley’s wife Maureen died in agony after he allowed her to lie with serious injuries on a floor for weeks without calling for medical help.
But yesterday a jury returned a “not proven” verdict on a charge of culpable homicide.
Younger sister Katie Friel said: “He has basically got off with killing Maureen.”
THE grieving sisters of a woman whose husband was cleared of causing her death yesterday accosted him as he left court a free man.
In a dramatic confrontation, one of them yelled at Neil Crilley: “You evil b ***** d. You killed my sister.”
Crilley’s wife Maureen died in agony after he allowed her to lie with serious injuries on a floor without calling for medical help.
But yesterday a jury at the High Court in Glasgow returned a controversial “not proven” verdict on a charge of culpable homicide.
During evidence at his trial, Crilley had broken down as he claimed his wife begged him not to seek help.
He told the court: “I totally failed her and I don’t want to live – I don’t deserve to live.”
But yesterday, three of Maureen’s sisters surrounded him as he left the court, including Katie Friel, 58, who said: “You evil b ***** d. You killed my sister.”
Katie later told the Record: “He is a cold and manipulating actor and he conned the jury. He broke down giving evidence but he doesn’t have any real remorse.
“How could he have left Maureen lying naked on the floor for eight weeks, with sores the size of saucers exposing bone? What kind of human being could do that?
“When we went to court, we had no idea of the extent of the neglect that Maureen suffered and it was traumatic to hear the details as they came out in the evidence of the pathologist. She said she had never seen a case as bad as this in her life and expected never to do so again.
“We have been denied justice here and he has basically got off with killing Maureen. He said he was following Maureen’s wishes but he previously got her an ambulance.”
Former BAE Systems worker Crilley, 77, said Maureen, 67, had a fear of doctors and needles and begged him not to dial 999 as she lay on the floor at their home in Clydebank.
But the medical evidence revealed she endured agony as her life slowly ebbed way.
Another sister, May Mackie, 68, said: “There is no justice for my sister. He left my sister to rot. He left her lying for eight or nine weeks. How could any human being do that? He left her to die.”
Maureen died from spinal meningitis two days after she was taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow. She had suffered from a massive amount of pus leaking into her brain and had nappy rash. The home stank of urine and had nappies laid out on the floor.
Prosecutor Richard Goddard QC, in his closing speech to the jury, urged them to convict Crilley of the culpable homicide of his wife.
Goddard said: “The condition he allowed his wife to lie in was appalling and inhuman.
“Maureen Crilley lived out her last few weeks of her life in abject squalor. It is not the Crown’s case that he intended to kill her. It is that he recklessly failed to call for help at a point where it must have obvious she needed medical care.
“He didn’t bother to call for help until her death became an inevitability.”
In evidence, Crilley said he cooked mince and potatoes and fish cakes for her while she lay on the floor with a broken leg. He said he had no sense of smell and did not realise how bad her injuries were.
He sobbed as he told of how he visited her grave every day and spoke to her.
During the trial, Crilley told his QC Tony Graham: “I look at a picture of her every day and have a chat to her, like I do at her grave.”
He added: “I totally failed her. I didn’t know the pain she was in until I heard the doctor the other day.”
Jurors, who cleared him by majority verdict, heard Crilley tell a 999 call operator: “My wife fell eight or nine weeks ago in the living room and this can’t go on. She begged me not to phone but she is in terrible need. She is terrified of needles and doesn’t want to go to hospital.”
Crilley refused to comment as he left court.