Husband killed his wife, 74, in Christmas Day knifing
AHUSBAND who knifed to death his wife of almost 54 years in a Christmas Day row over his drinking has been convicted of manslaughter.
Retired engineer Thomas Bryan, 76, told police who arrived to arrest him that wife Vivienne “did not deserve to die”, a murder trial heard.
Yesterday he was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter by a jury following a two-week trial.
Mrs Bryan, 74, died at the scene despite desperate attempts by her daughter, Angela Bryan, and a neighbour to give her CPR until paramedics arrived.
Jurors heard the fatal wound was inflicted with a kitchen knife in a row when Mrs Bryan tried to stop her husband having another drink.
The couple had spent Christmas Day last year with daughter Angela at her home next door to the detached bungalow the couple shared in the quiet cul de sac of Francis Avenue in Fairbourne, Gwynedd.
Opening the trial at Caernarfon Crown Court, prosecutor Gordon Cole QC said: “The Crown say that this is an offence of murder. It was he who killed his wife – it was unlawful in that it was not in lawful and reasonable self-defence and that at the time he either intended to kill her or to inflict upon his wife really serious harm.
“In that regard Mr Bryan carried out the killing by stabbing her to the neck with a large knife – indicating we say that at the very least he intended really serious harm and almost certainly intended, at that instant, to kill his wife.”
The incident happened at about 8pm on December 25, 2019, after the couple returned home.
Their daughter later told police officers there was some tension between her parents during the day, the court heard.
Her father later returned to the house and told her his wife had come towards him with a knife and he had stabbed her. “When asked ‘Where?’ he simply said to ‘Go look’,” said Mr Cole.
Mr Cole added that Angela Bryan said her father told her his wife had called him names the moment they had left her house and had “had a go”.
Angela Bryan rushed to her parents’ home and found her mother lying motionless and unresponsive on the sofa in the lounge. There was blood on her mother’s left-hand side and she checked for a pulse in the neck and wrist but believed her mother was dead, the jury was told. She made an urgent 999 call and began giving her mother CPR.
Bryan, added Mr Cole, can be heard in the background of the 999 call at times and “sounded distressed”.
Asked what happened, Bryan was said to have told his daughter that “she came at me with a knife again”, and when asked what he did, he was said to have replied: “I stabbed her.”
Mr Cole added Bryan had repeatedly said he didn’t lose control but during the course of his police interviews said: “I may have lost my temper.”
He was also said to have told police that he “must have stabbed her” because she had “tried to stop me getting another drink”, apparently adding: “That’s all there is to it.”
Pathologist Dr Brian Rodgers found no defensive injuries on Mrs Bryan. He found the stab wound to the right upper neck was the fatal wound.
Toxicology tests showed Mrs Bryan had a blood alcohol level of 62mg per 100ml of blood, which was said to be a relatively low concentration causing a mild degree of intoxication in “an average social drinker”.
The blood sample from her husband was not obtained until about midnight and was found to be 89mg in 100ml of blood.
“When this analysis was considered and, taking into account the time that had likely elapsed from his last drink, his alcohol levels would likely be much higher – something like over twice the limit for driving. This is likely to have caused a significant degree of intoxication in an average social drinker,” said Mr Cole.
But when he addressed the jury defence counsel Ian Unsworth QC described the incident as a tragic case which had its roots days, weeks, and months before. “It was not an isolated incident carried out in drink,” he said.
The court heard that in a previous incident Bryan was asleep in bed and woke to find his wife holding a knife to his chest and subsequently cut his hand as he took the blade from her.
Mental health worker Lynn Roberts, who assessed Mrs Bryan last November after the pensioner had made an attempt on her life the preceding month, said during her visits to the couple’s home Mrs Bryan had “little digs” at her husband, while Bryan was said to have sat quietly saying nothing.
Cross-examined by defence counsel Ian Unsworth QC, Ms Roberts said she had formed the view Mrs Bryan could be mean towards her husband and had a controlling manner and displayed manipulative behaviour.
After he was arrested Bryan was interviewed by police six times in a period of three days.
He told detectives he had been married to his wife for nearly 54 years and the relationship had worsened since they had moved to Fairbourne in the summer of 2018.
“She really hated it and told her sister she would make my life hell. I called her an evil cow and told her many times and she said ‘I know,’” he told the officers.
Asked if he had ever been violent towards his wife, Bryan said he had not but claimed she had challenged him to “put marks on me” and when he refused she was abusive.
He claimed to have been the victim of abuse, both verbal and physical, from his wife. He said Mrs Bryan had given him the odd slap on the head and outlined incidents where she had held a knife towards him and warned him to come no further.
Describing the events of Christmas Day, he said following the couple’s return from their daughter’s home he had taken his dog for a walk then spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening in the bungalow with his wife. He had drunk a litre bottle of vermouth and when he got up to fetch another bottle from the shed his wife had tried to stop him.
He told the interviewing officers they had wrestled with each other and he realised there was a knife on the settee alongside his wife. He stopped when he saw the settee was bloodstained and ran to alert his daughter.
Bryan, who denied murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter, did not give evidence at his trial. He will be sentenced today. After the case Karen Dixon, of the CPS, said:”It’s always dreadful when violence results in the loss of life but for it to happen on a day associated with peace and celebration seems tragic.
“The family have had to relive the awful event of that day during the trial process and have shown great strength throughout.
“They have our thanks for their support and co-operation and will remain in our thoughts.”