Six years for husband, 87 who shot dead dementia victim wife at care home
convinced the care at the home was “shocking” and that his wife was being robbed, but neither claim was true.
The judge said: “You and your wife have been a devoted couple… you cared for her until her dementia and your ill health meant you could no longer do so.
“She was sent along with you to De La Mer House on March 28 last year and she remained there until her death on the 28th of December when you shot her.
“The bullet entered through the right eye and she died instantly. This was from every angle a tragedy.
“This was not a mercy killing in the sense the expression is mainly used, rather it was a killing that occurred at the time when the experts agree that you were suffering from Ronald King, 87, left, and the 1934 Enfield revolver he used to kill his dementiasufferer wife Rita, 81, right paraphrenia and dementia.” At his trial, King described how he shot his wife in front of two other residents after breakfast.
“We had a cup of tea and went into the lounge. I talked to the wife and said, ‘You had enough?’ and she said, ‘Oh yes.’ So that’s when I got the gun out and shot her.
“I turned the gun round and tried to shoot myself but couldn’t pull the trigger. I knew she was absolutely gone. Then I kissed her.”
He added: “She thought we were going home. I said, ‘We will be together again’.”
King revealed he had also planned to shoot his sister, whom he described as a living corpse. He had even filed down ammunition to make dum-dum bullets saying: “You might as well do it properly.”