A disabled woman begged her husband of 56 years not to kill her in their bed before he smothered her with a pillow, a court heard.
Peter Matthews, 80, from Stoke-on-Trent, was jailed for nine years and seven months for murder after smothering his 73-year-old paraplegic wife, Carol Matthews, with a pillow.
On Friday, Stafford Crown Court heard how Matthews had cared for his wife for the past 24 years after she was diagnosed with a rare spinal syndrome that left her paralysed from the waist down.
Mrs Matthews was dependent on a wheelchair to get around and was fitted with a permanent catheter after undergoing a colostomy in 2001.
On March 22, Matthews smothered his wife in an “act of mercy” following a sleepless night trying to painfully unblock her catheter, the court heard.
Mrs Matthews “resisted in vain” telling him “Don’t do this, Peter, we have everything to live for” and tried to physically stop him, the court was told.
David Mason KC, prosecuting, told the court she would have “significantly suffered” in the short period of time.
Mr Mason said Mrs Matthews was “extremely vulnerable due to her age and disability” and that “despite her stoicism was in a lot of pain” in the lead-up to her murder.
Moments after her death, Matthews phoned 999 and “bluntly” told the emergency services she was “dead in a bed”.
Matthews then repeatedly tried to take his own life using a variety of household items, including attempting to electrocute himself. He suffered minor injuries to his neck and wrist.
‘I decided we had enough’
Matthews is said to have later admitted to police he “cold-bloodedly” murdered his wife and that “she did not want me to do it”.
He told police: “We have had trouble with the catheter recently. We have been having to stay awake for the nurse.
“Our sleep was disturbed, that is when I decided we had enough.
“She said, ‘No, Peter, don’t do it’ but I did it. I wanted to die for what I have done.”
He is said to have pleaded with officers “put me away for good so I can’t hurt anyone else”.
“I want to die as punishment for what I have done. I don’t want to go home, I don’t want to face my family,” he added.
A pathology report said the cause of death was consistent with “smothering”.
The court heard the 24 years of care had placed Matthews under a “huge amount of stress” and “enormous pressure and strain on him and his ability to cope with his wife’s disabilities”.
Mr Mason told the court: “He loved his wife and did what he did not out of anger or revenge or any typical malicious thought process, he did it because she was in a lot of pain.”
Judge Kristian Montgomery KC, in sentencing, said Matthews had been “loving, caring and doted on his wife as his main carer”.
She said: “Your wife pleaded for her life and must have significantly suffered in a short period of time, a desperate period of time as she resisted in vain to you killing her.
“You were hitherto a man of good character, you have demonstrated significant remorse for your actions.”
‘She still saw the quality in her life’
She said it was not a premeditated killing but a “spontaneous” death “borne from the stress of your personal circumstances”.
“This was plainly a very challenging period in yours and your wife’s life.
“But she still saw the quality in her life and wanted to continue.
“In my view, it was you who could not bear witness to her suffering or endure the impact on you any longer.”
Det Insp Lisa Holland, from the major investigations department, of Staffordshire Police, said: “This was such a tragic case that has left the family devastated. I can’t begin to imagine what they are feeling.
“We’ve been focusing our efforts on supporting them as much as possible at such a difficult time while gathering the evidence needed for the case.
“My thoughts, and the thoughts of the team that worked on this investigation, are still very much with them.”
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