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Sleepwalker kills wife
A man with a history of sleepwalking strangled his wife because he was convinced that she was an intruder who had broken into their camper van.
Brian Thomas, 59, and his wife Christine, 57, were on holiday in West Wales when he attacked her in the middle of the night.
Prosecutors accepted the findings of medical experts who said that he had a sleep disorder. They told Swansea Crown Court that they would not seek a conviction for murder or manslaughter.
The couple had been asleep in their van in a pub car park when they were disturbed by “boy racers” and decided to move. After they went back to bed Mr Thomas had a nightmare in which the youths broke into their camper van.
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He woke up alongside his wife’s body and dialled 999. In a tape of the call played to the jury he was heard telling the emergency operator: “I think I’ve killed my wife. Oh my God. I thought someone had broken in. I was fighting with those boys but it was Christine. I must have been dreaming or something. What have I done? What have I done? Can you send someone?”
Mr Thomas was crying and shaking when he was found by police officers ten minutes after making the call. He had said of his wife: “She is my world.”
Paul Thomas, QC, for the prosecution, said: “The defendant accepts that he caused the death of his wife, but the prosecution do not seek a verdict of guilty to murder or manslaughter. Instead, very unusually, we seek what is called a special verdict, a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.”
The court was told that the Thomases were a “happy, devoted couple” who were due to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. Mr Thomas, of Neath, South Wales, had suffered from sleep disorders for 50 years. Medical experts had carried out tests that confirmed his behaviour was “consistent with the legal concept of automatism”.
The prosecution said: “In other words, at the time of the killing the defendant was asleep and his mind had no control over what his body was doing.”
Elwen Evans, QC, for the defence, explained that Mr Thomas had stopped taking anti-depressant medication and drugs to control the symptoms of Parkinson’s while on holiday because it affected his sexual performance.
“He did this because they were sleeping together,” she said. “They were intimate together — in a way they weren’t when they were in their separate bedrooms at home.”
Miss Evans said that Mr Thomas was not “insane in the everyday sense of the word,” but that the noise of the boy racers caused him “considerable levels of stress”. The court was told that Mrs Thomas also had sleeping problems.
The jury heard that in law there were two types of automatism: insane automatism and non-insane automatism. Counsel explained: “This was a case of insane automatism because the sleeping disorder the defendant had suffered from since childhood was ‘part of him’ and not something that could be cured.”
If he is found not guilty due to insanity he will be subject to a psychiatric hospital order and could be detained indefinitely.
The defence claims that Mr Thomas was suffering the “non-insane” form of automatism and is asking for an acquittal, which would not require him to be detained.
The trial continues.
Brian Thomas, 59, and his wife Christine, 57, were on holiday in West Wales when he attacked her in the middle of the night.
Prosecutors accepted the findings of medical experts who said that he had a sleep disorder. They told Swansea Crown Court that they would not seek a conviction for murder or manslaughter.
The couple had been asleep in their van in a pub car park when they were disturbed by “boy racers” and decided to move. After they went back to bed Mr Thomas had a nightmare in which the youths broke into their camper van.
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He woke up alongside his wife’s body and dialled 999. In a tape of the call played to the jury he was heard telling the emergency operator: “I think I’ve killed my wife. Oh my God. I thought someone had broken in. I was fighting with those boys but it was Christine. I must have been dreaming or something. What have I done? What have I done? Can you send someone?”
Mr Thomas was crying and shaking when he was found by police officers ten minutes after making the call. He had said of his wife: “She is my world.”
Paul Thomas, QC, for the prosecution, said: “The defendant accepts that he caused the death of his wife, but the prosecution do not seek a verdict of guilty to murder or manslaughter. Instead, very unusually, we seek what is called a special verdict, a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.”
The court was told that the Thomases were a “happy, devoted couple” who were due to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. Mr Thomas, of Neath, South Wales, had suffered from sleep disorders for 50 years. Medical experts had carried out tests that confirmed his behaviour was “consistent with the legal concept of automatism”.
The prosecution said: “In other words, at the time of the killing the defendant was asleep and his mind had no control over what his body was doing.”
Elwen Evans, QC, for the defence, explained that Mr Thomas had stopped taking anti-depressant medication and drugs to control the symptoms of Parkinson’s while on holiday because it affected his sexual performance.
“He did this because they were sleeping together,” she said. “They were intimate together — in a way they weren’t when they were in their separate bedrooms at home.”
Miss Evans said that Mr Thomas was not “insane in the everyday sense of the word,” but that the noise of the boy racers caused him “considerable levels of stress”. The court was told that Mrs Thomas also had sleeping problems.
The jury heard that in law there were two types of automatism: insane automatism and non-insane automatism. Counsel explained: “This was a case of insane automatism because the sleeping disorder the defendant had suffered from since childhood was ‘part of him’ and not something that could be cured.”
If he is found not guilty due to insanity he will be subject to a psychiatric hospital order and could be detained indefinitely.
The defence claims that Mr Thomas was suffering the “non-insane” form of automatism and is asking for an acquittal, which would not require him to be detained.
The trial continues.
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