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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
|---|---|
| Husband let wife starve to death | Husband let wife starve to death |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| A 71-year-old man has been jailed after letting his mentally ill wife starve to death while he went to the pub and visited the bookmakers. | A 71-year-old man has been jailed after letting his mentally ill wife starve to death while he went to the pub and visited the bookmakers. |
| William Pottinger, known as Bill, of Weirside Court, Newtown, in Berkshire pleaded guilty to manslaughter at a hearing last month. | William Pottinger, known as Bill, of Weirside Court, Newtown, in Berkshire pleaded guilty to manslaughter at a hearing last month. |
| His wife Gillian, 61, died on a flea-ridden couch in June 2006 weighing just four-and-a-half stone (28.5kg). | His wife Gillian, 61, died on a flea-ridden couch in June 2006 weighing just four-and-a-half stone (28.5kg). |
| Pottinger was jailed at Reading Crown Court for 18 months. | Pottinger was jailed at Reading Crown Court for 18 months. |
| Judge Christopher Tyrer described it as a "horrific" case. | |
| Jailing him, he said: "You allowed your wife to starve to death. | |
| "She began to significantly deteriorate from about the year 2000. | |
| "She last went outside in about 2003, she totally lost the ability to look after herself and she lay on a sofa and wasted away. | |
| "Her suffering must have lasted months. | |
| "Her death was in squalid and degrading circumstances and the pain and the stress that she suffered for the months before she actually died doesn't bear thinking about." |