Brit wife faces death ‘for killing her hubby’
Threat of hanging after ‘murder’ in island home
A BRITISH wife arrested over her husband’s killing on an idyllic island could face the death penalty.
Samantha Jones, 51, was detained after ex-firefighter John, 62, was found stabbed to death at home in far northwest Malaysia at 2.30am.
Police retrieved a bloodsoaked knife with a 12in blade from the floor and suspect that Samantha lashed out during a row.
If she is convicted of murder in the south-east Asian country, where the expats from Somerset had settled, she can expect a mandatory sentence of hanging – unless the law is changed.
Samantha was led away in handcuffs after the grim discovery on the junglecovered isle of Langkawi.
Later she was taken from a court to the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital mortuary to identify her husband’s body.
The couple had lived on Langkawi, which lies close to the border with
Thailand, for 11 years after moving from the village of Martock near Yeovil.
Reports said John’s body was found after neighbours raised the alarm.
Following Samantha’s arrest, photographs were released of the knife and blood splashed on the floor beside a bed.
Police chief Mohamad Iqbal Ibrahim said: “The couple were believed to have engaged in an argument. The wife took a knife from the kitchen and stabbed her husband in the chest.”
Samantha married John, who has children from a previous marriage, in Yeovil in September 2001.
Last night John’s relatives were too upset to talk but the Foreign Office said it was supporting both families. Malaysia’s government has pledged to abolish the death penalty but lawmakers have yet to approve the change.
In 1989 Englishman Derrick Gregory was hanged, despite a plea for mercy by PM Margaret Thatcher, after he was caught with heroin at Penang airport.