Wife who murdered husband with kitchen knife jailed

A woman who stabbed her husband, who had dementia, with a kitchen knife and then lied that he had accidentally fallen on it has been jailed.

Daryl Berman told police that David Berman, 84, had stumbled while he took a lunch tray into the kitchen of their home in Prestwich, Bury, on 13 March last year.

Berman, 72, claimed her husband of 27 years had said, "It's OK, I slipped" before she heard a groan and she ran in to discover him face down and covered in blood.

Her account was initially accepted but her actions "unravelled" when suspicions were raised about the injury and a post-mortem examination later concluded it was non-accidental. She was sentenced to life with a minimum of 12 years.

Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard retired joiner Mr Berman also had a stab wound to his right middle finger, which prosecutors said was a common self-defence injury.

Paramedics attended the couple's home on Butterstile Lane after the defendant dialled 999 but they were unable to save her husband.

Officers spoke to Berman on the driveway of her home and she said: "You don't think I murdered him do you?"

She was said to be "very calm and matter of fact", the prosecution said, and also had little blood on her, despite stating she had rolled Mr Berman over.

Last week she was convicted by a jury of murder.

Sentencing Berman to a life term, Judge Tina Landale told her: "It appears something happened between you where David went to the floor and you stabbed him in the chest with severe force.

"You have never given a truthful account of what happened. I am satisfied something must have happened to cause you to lose your patience or temper and begin to attack David with the knife you had earlier used to prepare your lunch.

"Whatever the trigger was is unknown.

"I am sure you immediately regretted what you had done and tried to help him and called for an ambulance, and followed instructions to resuscitate him.

"I am satisfied that you did not intend to kill David, rather your intent was that he suffer really serious bodily harm."

The judge added: "This was a domestic incident against a background of a decades-long happy marriage."

Both were said to have "adored each other" and there were no apparent problems between them to the outside world, the court heard,

The defendant was also said to be "coping" with her husband's health issues, including a recent diagnosis of vascular dementia, and "by all accounts was nurturing and caring towards him".

After she rang for an ambulance, Berman called her husband's children so they could see him as he fought for his life.

In a victim personal statement read to the court, Mr Berman's son, also named Daryl, said he knew his father's life was in danger by the "tone" of his stepmother's voice.

He said when he arrived it "strangely seemed like a crime scene already", adding what he saw in the kitchen was "difficult to shake out of my head".

"My sister was crying hysterically and then there was Daryl, who seemed fairly calm considering what had happened," he told the court.

"Not being able to say goodbye properly will always be hard to swallow. I feel cheated."

Mr Berman's daughter Debbie Davis, said: "I keep going over different scenarios in my mind.

"I feel like I'm living in my own nightmare TV programme because things like this are not real.

"It has left a massive void in my life.

"I know my father was 84, but he still had some good years ahead of him. I feel bereft and cheated."

Berman was convicted in a retrial after a previous jury was discharged in December when they could not reach a verdict.

She showed no reaction as she was led from the dock to begin her sentence.

After the hearing, Det Insp Alex Wilkinson, said: "David Berman was an 84-year-old man who should have been able to enjoy his later years in the safety of his own home.

"Instead, his life was cruelly cut short by the person he trusted most."

"From the outset, Daryl Berman attempted to present her husband's death as a tragic accident and maintained that account throughout the investigation.

"However, the findings of the post-mortem examination exposed the truth and ultimately led to her being found guilty of his murder."

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