Ex-PC kills wife hit by dementia

A RETIRED policeman killed his dementia-stricken wife after caring for her ‘simply became too much’.

Douglas Addison – who also has Alzheimer’s – hit 88-year-old Mary with a walking stick before smothering her. The 89-year-old had become confused by the rapid onset of his own condition and turned away help from social workers, a court was told.

A hearing this week found he had killed his wife of 67 years and the judge ordered he be detained in hospital indefinitely.

Neighbours said he had coped well caring for Mrs Addison until he became ill a few weeks before her death in February.

Her body was discovered by a GP and social worker who visited the couple’s bungalow and saw Addison standing over the body through a bedroom window.

When they went in, he said: ‘I was thinking about calling you. She is on the floor and she can’t get up.’

The severity of his condition only became clear when police searched the home in St Merryn, Cornwall. The fridge contained almost no food, but more than a dozen bottles of milk.

A post-mortem examination found the main cause of Mrs Addison’s death was suffocation, but she had also suffered multiple blunt force trauma.

There had been an attempt to strangle her and her right shoulder was dislocated. A walking stick was found nearby.

Addison was charged with murder but was diagnosed with advanced Alzheimer’s after his arrest. He was too ill to enter a plea. This week a jury found that he killed Mrs Addison.

The judge, Mr Justice Dingemans, made an indefinite hospital order under the 1964 Criminal Procedure (Insanity) Act.

After the case, Detective Chief Inspector Jo Hall said: ‘This is very sad set of circumstances.’