90 year old wife stabber refused to wear tag

A 90-year-old retired Smithfield butcher who stabbed his blind wife as she slept appeared in court again after refusing to wear an electronic tag.

Edward Turpin wounded frail Joan Turpin, also 90, on 22 September last year because he could not cope with caring for her.

The attack took place at their home in Ringshall Road, Orpington, Kent, after more than 60 years of happy marriage.

Mrs Turpin said in a video recorded while she was in hospital: ‘He woke me up with the knife in my chest, telling me he couldn’t take any more.

‘It made him ill and then the knife went in. I was screaming for help.’

Turpin denied and was cleared of attempted murder and was convicted of a lesser alternative charge of unlawful wounding.

He was given a suspended sentence on 21 September this year of two years imprisonment suspended for two years.

Turpin was also given an electronically monitored curfew between 9pm and 7am for three months, meant to commence upon his discharge from hospital.

He attended the Old Bailey today (fri) wearing a brown coat, grey tracksuit bottoms and walking with a stick.

Prosecutor Alistair Richardson said there had been a number of attempts to install the electronic ankle tag, but the first two had been at 10.48pm and 11.48pm and Turpin did not answer the door.

His niece requested a daytime appointment and they attend at lunchtime on 10 October, but Turpin refused to have the equipment installed.

Mr Richardson said that because there had been a breach of the suspended sentence the court must activate the prison sentence unless it would be unjust to do so.

Simon Gledhill, defending, said that the electronic tag company attending at 20 to midnight had caused Turpin considerable anxiety.

He said: ‘He is very apologetic, it has been traumatic for him to come to court today and he does not wish to attend again.

‘He has not been going out between 9pm and 7am, he is increasingly housebound in any event.’

Judge Alexia Durran said: ‘That is why I set the order in those terms, not expecting Mr Turpin was going to be living it up between nine in the evening and seven in the morning.’

She told Turpin: ‘There may have been some confusion about what the order was and I can well understand why you were distressed by people arriving very late at night, it’s not nice for anybody and particularly for someone of your age.

‘Strictly speaking I am meant to send you to prison today because you have not complied with the order I have made.

‘I don’t want to do that Mr Turpin. I am persuaded it would be unjust to send you to prison today, but you have to comply and if you don’t I have to send you to prison.’

Mr Turpin said he would comply right now, pointing at his leg.

Judge Durran said: ‘You are going to have to spend three months in your house and I have to mark fact you have strictly speaking breached the order- so I’m going to add seven days, making the total three months and seven days.

‘It’s important that you let them in to install the equipment and we can end this rather sorry saga for you.’

At sentencing, she said: ‘As of September last year Mr and Mrs Turpin were both aged 89.

‘They had been married for nearly 70 years.

‘Their marriage had been a happy one and Mr Turpin had been, in the words of his wife, a good and loving husband.

‘Joan Turpin’s health deteriorated and by September of last year she had lost her eyesight.

‘The evidence suggests to me that Mr Turpin was too proud to ask extended family for help. He had some limited home care support.

‘In short his wife Joan was entirely dependent on Mr Turpin for her care in a significant way.’

Turning to the incident, the judge went on: ‘At approximately 1:30 in the morning of 22 September last year Mr Turpin stabbed his wife.

‘He told the jury that he had woken to his wife uncontrollably screaming…[and] had gone downstairs to find a knife to try and scare her and quieten her down.

‘I am driven to the conclusion that Mr Turpin was acting under incredible stress.

‘Otherwise there is no sensible explanation…for attacking the person who you hold most dear.

‘It is quite clear that Mr Turpin was overcome by the stress and responsibility of looking after his wife.

‘In the early hours of the morning when things often seem extremely bleak and hopeless Mr Turpin armed himself with a knife.’

Mrs Turpin suffered two stab wounds to the chest and two to her upper abdomen.

The injuries to her chest caused her right lung to collapse.

After the attack, Turpin called the emergency services and said: ‘I can’t take any more of it…she’s been ill and it’s got right on top of me.’

Turpin, of Ringshall Road, Orpington, denied and was cleared of attempted murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

He was convicted of the lesser alternative of unlawful wounding and given two years in prison suspended for two years, as well as an electronically monitored curfew between 9pm-7am for three months.

The electronically monitored curfew, which has not yet commenced, has now been increased to three months, seven days.