Woman, 81, admits killing husband

Audrey Hingston: Faked emotional appeal for information

An 81-year-old woman from Devon has been jailed for two years for stabbing her husband to death as he slept.

Audrey Hingston, of Underwood Road, Plympton, admitted the manslaughter of 83-year-old Eric Hingston at their home in August last year.

Mr Hingston, a retired butcher, was found dead at the couple's flat.

At the time, Mrs Hingston made a public appeal, saying he had been stabbed to death by burglars after getting out of bed to confront them.

At Plymouth Crown Court on Thursday, Mrs Hingston denied murder, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.

I am satisfied this killing of your husband must be marked by a prison sentence Mrs Justice Hallett

The prosecution said the Hingstons had a happy marriage, but that Mrs Hingston was frustrated at her husband's deteriorating health.

Mr Hingston, a former Special Operations pilot who flew agents behind enemy lines during World War II, had heart problems and asthma and she had been fed up with caring for him.

The court was told by prosecutor Martin Meeke QC that Hingston first put the blame for the killing on two burglars she said had broken into their flat.

Mrs Hingston had told a news conference in September last year: "Two men came into my home and ruined my life.

"My husband Eric did not deserve this. As a frail man, any resistance he put up could easily have been overcome by these two young men."

Confessed to killing

In fact, after she had stabbed him as he lay sleeping in his bed, she had spent two hours ransacking the flat, staging the burglary before calling an ambulance.

Then she claimed that her husband had committed suicide, and she faked the burglary to cover it up.

Two men came into my home ... My husband Eric did not deserve this Audrey Hingston

She finally confessed the killing to her son, a former detective, after being charged with murder, when he visited her in custody.

She told him: "OK, I killed him. I'd had enough. I could not take any more of his illness and having to care for him."

Hingston was told by Mrs Justice Hallett it was a "sad day" that a woman of her age and background was in the dock having confessed to killing her husband and covering her tracks in a "calculated and convincing way".

The judge added it was "wicked" to give descriptions of two men she knew, claiming they were the burglars.

Unbearable pressure

The men were arrested, but freed because they had alibis.

The judge went on to say it was also "wicked" to suggest her husband had committed suicide.

She accepted Hingston was ill and under "the kind of pressure none of us would wish to bear".

But she said: "I am satisfied this killing of your husband must be marked by a prison sentence. I feel I have no alternative."

Mr Hingston's family expressed their disappointment with the verdict and the sentence.

Sue Thomson, said: "It's disgusting and a farce. Anyone can fake depression and go out and do what she's done.

"If she can do that kind of thing totally unprovoked what's she going to do when she's provoked?"

Police told the court they wasted £160,000 investigating the false claims.

Detective Inspector Neil Treaby said after the case: "It was the most difficult case I have ever handled.

"Initially we thought it was a burlgary, but after forensic evidence we had to turn the investigation round and start again."