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Wife, 78, tasered twice after she stabbed her Alzheimer’s suffering husband 17 times when she cracked under the pressure of caring for him

May 21st, 2012 FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda

  • Police taser elderly Florence Thomson twice when she refused to drop the knife after stabbing her husband 17 times
  • She escapes prison sentence but is handed a two-year community order  
  • Court told couple had been married 40 years and were devoted to each other
  • Husband manages to survive attack and wants to see his wife again

By
Paul Bentley


PUBLISHED:

10:44 EST, 21 May 2012

|

UPDATED:

13:02 EST, 21 May 2012

 

Cracked under pressure: Florence Thomson, arriving at Lincoln Crown Court

Cracked under pressure: Florence Thomson, arriving at Lincoln Crown Court

The elderly wife of a man with Alzheimer’s disease was tasered twice by police after stabbing him 17 times when she cracked under the pressure of caring for him, a court heard today.

Grandmother Florence Thomson, 78, had just moved home with her husband Keith, 79, when she ‘flipped’ and repeatedly plunged a carving knife into his chest. He survived the attack.

Officers who were called to the scene by her daughter took the decision to taser her twice because she would not let go of the knife.

Mrs Thomson, who arrived at court walking with a zimmer frame, escaped a prison sentence for the attack after a court heard that years of taking care of her husband had taken their toll on her mental health.

She was handed a two-year community order by the judge, who said he showed mercy because it was an ‘extremely sad’ case and that ‘caring for anyone with dementia should not be underestimated’.

Mrs Thomson confessed immediately after the attack in November last year, insisting she was ‘not an evil person’ and that she loved her husband.

Mr Thomson, who used to work for electronics firm Ferranti in his home town Edinburgh, managed to survive despite horrific injuries and is now being looked after at a care home. He is now said to be keen to see his wife, who is only allowed to visit him under supervision.

Lincoln Crown Court heard how Mrs Thomson cracked after the couple moved to a newly built bungalow in Long Sutton, Lincolnshire, from another property in the same town.

They had been married for almost 40 years but Mr Thomson’s memory had deteriorated severely since 2003, leaving his wife with sole responsibility for his care. She was said to have complained in the weeks before the attack that she ‘lost him’ years before and couldn’t ‘put up with him’ for much longer.

After stabbing her husband Mrs Thomson started to cut herself before her daughter happened to let herself into the new home and stumble upon the horrific scene.

She called the police but Mrs Thomson refused to let go of the knife and when officers arrived they tasered her twice before she relented.

'Unusual and sad case': Lincoln Crown court Judge Michael Heath (pictured) sentenced Florence Thomson to a two-year community order with supervision by probation officers

‘Unusual and sad case’: Lincoln Crown court Judge Michael Heath (pictured) sentenced Florence Thomson to a two-year community order with supervision by probation officers

Mr Thomson was rushed to hospital in nearby King’s Lynn where he was treated in the intensive care unit with 10 stab wounds to his chest as well as injuries to his shoulder, hands and right thigh.

Mrs Thomson, who was also treated for cuts at the hospital, immediately admitted her guilt. She told police at the hospital: ‘I love my husband. I love him to bits. I lost it. I just flipped my lid.

‘You always hurt the one you love and I hurt my husband. It was because of the stress. The pressure of moving house got to me. Please, please, I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I’m not an evil person.’

At court, Gordon Aspden, prosecuting, explained that almost a decade of her caring for her husband had taken their toll on Mrs Thomson’s mental health.

‘The dementia became a source of extreme frustration to her,’ he said.

‘Florence Thomson had for some time been finding things very difficult in coping with her husband’s dementia and caring for him. The cumulative effect appears to have caused this elderly lady to snap and to harm both herself and her husband.’

Mr Aspden said that in the weeks before the stabbing Florence was heard to remark: ‘I lost him a long time ago. I don’t know how much longer I can put up with him.’

The prosecutor described how on the day of the attack Mrs Thomson’s daughter Sheena Pentney, who she had with her first husband, called in to check everything was ok with her mother and stepfather.

He said: ‘The daughter used a key to unlock the front door. Her mother walked out of the kitchen holding a carving knife. She looked totally deranged. She had a wild look in her eyes and was covered in blood.

‘Sheena went into the front bedroom where she found her stepfather lying on the floor.

He was also covered in blood.’ The daughter raised the alarm and armed police were sent to the scene.

‘Mrs Thomson appeared at the doorway still holding the knife,’ Mr Aspden added. ‘She moved towards them with the knife in her hand ignoring requests to put it down.

The first officer who entered the property felt so threatened that he activated a taser.

She ignored the request to drop the knife and the taser was activated a second time.

She was then arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.’ Mr Aspden said that two psychiatrists who examined Mrs Thomson agreed she was ill at the time she carried out the attack.

She pleaded guilty to wounding her husband with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

Judge Michael Heath sentenced Mrs Thomson to a two-year community order with supervision by probation officers, while also imposing an indefinite restraining order which means she can only visit her husband under supervision. 

Mrs Thomson had previously spent five months in custody on remand at Peterborough Women’s Prison. Passing sentence, Judge Heath said: ‘This is a highly unusual and extremely sad case.

‘They had been happily married for 40 years and were devoted to each other.

‘In 2003 Mr Thomson began to experience signs of memory loss. He eventually contracted dementia and it got progressively worse. She was his sole carer. C

‘Caring for anyone with dementia should not be underestimated. She found herself under a great strain and contracted a depressive illness.

‘Plainly at the time of this incident the balance of her mind was disturbed against a background of great domestic upheaval.

‘There are very exceptional cases when justice should be tempered with mercy.

‘This is one of them. In almost every case of wounding with intent any defendant who either pleads or is found guilty can expect to receive a sentence measuring in years.

‘For reasons I hope are obvious I am satisfied it would be contrary to the interests of justice to follow the guidelines in this case.’

Mrs Thomson chose to make no comment after the hearing. Edna Leonard, defending, said: ‘Mrs Thomson is anxious to see her husband.

‘The information is that Keith Thomson would like to see her as well.’

Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
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For all those moaning about the Police tasering her ask yourself what the alternatives were?
It’s either get right up close to someone who has already stabbed someone and hope you don’t get stabbed or call in armed cops and shoot her. Personally I wouldn’t want to hit her with a baton or get close enough to try and hit her, similarly spaying CS in an enclosed space is a very poor idea.
If anyone else has other ideas that aren’t completely barmy please let me know, but I suppose most DM readers would rather have a go at Plod.

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Unless they’ve cared for a person with dementia, they do not have a single right to judge her. Try it, even for a night. You’ll be ready to step in to her shoes by the next morning.

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Why are you idiots having a go at the police again! Read the story, she had just stabbed her husband 17 times, he needed urgent medical treatment which he would not get while she was still a threat, she would not drop the knife. There was no time for talking about it, they had to get to her husband quickly and without becoming casualties themselves ( she may be 78 but has already shown she is capable of stabbing someone remember), they had no choice, she had to be disarmed quickly and safely, hence why TASER was used. Also note that, despite being tasered, she lived and had her day in court.

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Not only did they taser her twice but they stuck her in a prison for five months. Even when two psychiatrists certified her as ill. Disgusting! She shouldn’t have even got that far.

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The police are pathetic!

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Where was the help for this couple. She should not have had to care for her husband without support. As for tasering, I new that bringing in this deterant would end up being misused

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Armchair Police out in force again. A 78year old can kill you the same as anyone else with a knife. The Police go to work with the intention of going home to their family safely and use the tools given to them to achieve that objective. If you don’t like it, tough and if you don’t want it to happen call the social services and after a lot of hand wringing they will call the Police because it is dangerous. Thankfully the lady may now get the help she should have received a long time before it reached the stage it did. As the cuts really take effect this will happen time and time again and who will pick up the pieces, the Police if there are any left.

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This is a very sad story indeed. I’m 38 keep fit, have a healthy BMI of 21 and eat sensibly in moderation, eat my ‘5 a day’, I also keep my brain active too by writing short stories and have written 4 books too and hope to get them published though I’m no JK Rowling I’m afraid! Sorry for digressing. However I’m worried that I could end up with something that like in later life, the reason I say this is because if it can happen to other people it happen to me. Last week I saw my female doctor for a cervical smear test and mentioned future worries I had regarding dementia, although she was nice, she more or less fobbed me off and offered me very little in the way of reassurance. The only things I can do to prevent myself from falling victim to this devastating illness are the above as stated. The last thing I want is to be totally dependant on other people for everything.

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can we club together and get her a nice holiday?

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There are those of us who know that care is in crisis and those who are suffering because of that fact. How is anyone supposed to be able to give 24 hour care for ten years to someone who is only ever going to get worse? That is the tragedy of dementia; there is never an improvement. Will the professionals now be calculating how much this 78 year old woman has saved the country over the last ten years? Dementia has effectively destroyed her life too.

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