Spelling error lands wife behind bars

LONDON — A British woman who tried to kill her husband by poisoning his Christmas drink of sparkling fruit wine with antifreeze was jailed for 15 years on Monday after being undone by a spelling mistake and a trail of text messages.

Following family arguments, Jacqueline Patrick, 55, twice tried to kill her husband, Douglas, 70, in October and on Christmas Day 2013, by spiking his cherry Lambrini.

“Perhaps most shocking of all was the note she gave to the London Ambulance Service purporting to be from her husband, stating that he did not wish to be resuscitated,” said Detective Inspector Tracey Miller, of London’s Metropolitan Police, in a statement.

The forged note showed a misspelling of the word dignity as dignerty. When police later asked her to write the word, she made the same mistake.

The couple’s daughter Katherine, 21, was sentenced to three years in jail after admitting to inciting her mother to poison her father, while Jacqueline pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder.

Douglas Patrick was rushed to a hospital fighting for his life, and tests revealed he was suffering from antifreeze poisoning.

“His wife was informed, who then told doctors she thought Mr. Patrick may have drunk a blue liquid by mistake. The hospital, finding it strange that she hadn’t volunteered this information earlier, called police,” the police statement said.

Mother and daughter’s cellphones revealed incriminating exchanges, including “I got the stuff I will give him some later delete txt tell no one ok,” and “He feels sick again I gave him more delete this.”