Life for wife murder over dog row

A man who stabbed his wife to death has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 13-and-a-half years.

Steven Morgan, 47, said he attacked her in a "moment of anger" because she insisted their dog stay in the home despite its poor sanitary habits.

The Old Bailey in London heard the couple's eight-year-old son tried to help his mother as she lay dying.

Morgan, of Port Talbot, admitted "tensions" following his 34-year-old wife Rebecca's affair with his brother.

The couple, from the Sandfields area of Port Talbot, were married for 16 years and had two sons together, aged eight and 13.

"His two sons had lost their mother and they are going to lose their father for a significant period of time"
Mr Justice Saunders

Morgan stabbed his wife once in the heart with a kitchen knife on 8 July last year after a lengthy row, then slit his wrists.

He later admitted tensions had been "bubbling under" between them following his wife's affair with his brother two years before.

His trial at Swansea Crown Court heard that he was unhappy with the dog because it was eating its own faeces.

He was found guilty of murder by a jury.

Mr Justice Saunders, sitting at the Old Bailey, said: "This is a truly tragic case. As a result of this defendant's actions Rebecca is dead.

"His two sons had lost their mother and they are going to lose their father for a significant period of time.

"During the course of that argument he picked up a vegetable knife either from the sitting room or the kitchen and he stabbed his wife to the heart.

"The only other person in the house at the time was the defendant's eight-year-old son.

"He had to attempt to help his mother as she lay dying and he also cleared up the blood in the house which came not only from the mother but from the defendant.

"This was an appallingly traumatic experience for this child."

The judge accepted that it was an "unpremeditated and unplanned attack" which took place in a brief "moment of anger".

Afterwards Alan Thomson, a member of the victim's family, said: "The number of years he spends in prison is irrelevant in terms of the effect he had had on the family.

"He lied all the way through the trial and we still don't know what happened that night, how Rebecca died, or why she died.

"He should be honest with us about what happened on the night so we know."

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