DEVOTED WIFE VALERIE FLOOD, WHO STABBED HER BRUTAL
DEVOTED WIFE VALERIE FLOOD, WHO STABBED HER BRUTAL ‘JEKYLL AND
HYDE’ HUSBAND TO DEATH AFTER ENDURING FOUR YEARS OF VIOLENCE AT HIS
HANDS WAS FREED BY A SYMPATHETIC OLD BAILEY JUDGE ON TUESDAY.
JUDGE JOHN HAZAN QC TOLD 38 YEAR OLD MRS FLOOD, ‘YOU WERE TRIED
BEYOND ENDURANCE AND YOU SIMPLY COULD NOT TAKE ANY MORE.
‘
PUTTING THE MOTHER OF THREE DAUGHTERS ON PROBATION FOR TWO
YEARS, THE JUDGE SAID HE HOPED THE CASE WOULD NOT ENCOURAGE OTHER
WOMEN TO DO AWAY WITH THEIR VIOLENT HUSBANDS.
‘I WANT IT TO BE UNDERSTOOD THAT THIS CASE IS NOT GOING TO BE A
PRECEDENT FOR WIVES TO KILL THEIR BRUTAL HUSBANDS.
THERE ARE MANY
OTHER COURSES OPEN TO THEM: THEY CAN LEAVE, OR SEEK DIVORCE,’ ADDED
THE JUDGE.
THE COURT HEARD THAT THE ATTRACTIVE BRUNETTE FINALLY SNAPPED
AFTER FOUR YEARS OF MISERY WITH HER 48 YEAR OLD HUSBAND – AND WAS IN
LOVE WITH HIM TO THE END, DESPITE A CATALOGUE OF HORRIFIC ATTACKS ON
HER.
THE STABBING CAME DURING A CHRISTMAS EVE ROW WHEN THE DRUNKEN
MAN GRABBED A CARVING KNIFE AND LUNGED AT HER.
SHE WRESTLED THE KNIFE
FROM HIS GRASP AND STABBED HIM SIX TIMES IN THE BACK AND CHEST, SAID
MR JAMES CRESPI, PROSECUTING.
EVEN THEN THE DISTRAUGHT MOTHER IMMEDIATELY CALLED POLICE AND
AMBULANCEMEN TO HER FLAT IN HARVARDS HOUSE, DODDINGTON GROVE,
CAMBERWELL.
SHE TOLD DETECTIVES: ‘I DON’T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED.
HE JUST
WENT FOR ME – I JUST WENT MAD AND STABBED HIM.
HE HAS BEEN HITTING
ME FOR FOUR YEARS NOW.
‘
MRS FLOOD PLEADED NOT GUILTY TO MURDER BUT GUILTY TO
MANSLAUGHTER ON GROUNDS OF PROVOCATION.
SHE STAGGERED WEEPING INTO
THE ARMS OF HER RELATIVES AS THE JUDGE PASSED SENTENCE.
THE COURT HEARD OF THE CATALOGUE OF HORRIFIC ASSAULTS MAURICE
FLOOD SUBJECTED HIS WIFE TO – ALWAYS WHEN IN DRINK.
VALERIE HAD SAID
OF HIM TO NEIGHBOURS AND FRIENDS: ‘HE IS LOVELY WHEN NORMAL, BUT HE’S
A JEKYLL AND HYDE CHARACTER.
‘
SHE HAD BEEN SUBJECTED TO CIGARETTE BURNS ON HER BUTTOCKS, WAS
HIT ON THE HEAD AND LEGS WITH A HAMMER AND MACHETE, AND WAS ONCE
PUSHED THROUGH A PLATE GLASS WINDOW.
HER HUSBAND HAD A STRING OF
CONVICTIONS FOR THE BRUTAL ATTACKS – AND SHE HAD EVEN PLEADED FOR
MERCY ON HIS BEHALF WHEN HE WAS TO BE SENTENCED FOR BURNING HER.
HE HAD TRIED TO KILL VALERIE THREE TIMES AND NEIGHBOURS OFTEN
SAW HER COVERED IN SCRATCHES AND BRUISES.
DEFENCE COUNSEL MR ANTHONY WILCKEN SAID, DESPITE ALL THIS, THE
COUPLE ‘WERE ABSOLUTELY DEVOTED TO EACH OTHER.
THE TROUBLE WAS HE
TOOK DRINK, AND WHEN HE DID, HE HAD AN UNGOVERNABLE TEMPER.
‘THE RELATIONSHIP WAS VERY TUMULTUOUS INDEED, AND IT IS QUITE
CLEAR THAT MR FLOOD HAD ALCOHOL AND PSYCHIATRIC PROBLEMS.
BUT WHEN
SOBER HE WAS A KIND AND ATTENTIVE HUSBAND.
‘
MR WILCKEN CONTINUED: ‘THIS IS AN UNHAPPY LADY WHO HAS SUFFERED
A GREAT DEAL AT THE HANDS OF THE MAN SHE STILL LOVES – TO AN EXTENT
WHICH MANY PEOPLE WOULD FIND DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND.
‘SHE WAS EXTREMELY HAPPY WITH HIM.
THEY WERE PROPERLY DESCRIBED
AS A DEVOTED COUPLE.
‘
SENTENCING, THE JUDGE TOLD MRS FLOOD: ‘THIS CASE IS A TERRIBLE
EXAMPLE OF THE EVILS OF ALCOHOL WHICH ALONG WITH DRUG ABUSE IS ONE OF
THE MOST POTENT SOCIAL EVILS OF THE DAY.
‘I HAVE NO DOUBT YOU HAD BEEN ABUSED AND MALTREATED BY HIM FOR A
LONG TIME.
HE BURNED YOU ON THE BACKSIDE, BIT YOUR BREASTS AND
ATTACKED YOU WITH MACHETES AND A HAMMER.
AND DESPITE THAT YOU
DESCRIBED HIM AS ‘LOVELY’.
‘
JUDGE HAZAN CONCLUDED : ‘YOU HAD A VERY UNHAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE
LAST YEAR.
YOUR HUSBAND ATTACKED AND MIGHT HAVE KILLED YOU, BUT YOU
ENDED UP BY KILLING HIM.
I CAN ONLY EXPRESS THE HOPE THAT YOU WILL
HAVE A MUCH HAPPIER CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR.
‘
ENDS
