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Man who killed wife in sleep ‘should go free’

Written by: David Castillo on November 20th, 2009

Man who killed wife in sleep 'should go free' | read this item

[AFP] — The man who killed his wife while dreaming she was an intruder should go free, a court heard on Wednesday.

Brian Thomas, 59, who suffers from a sleep disorder, admits killing his wife Christine, 57, while they spent a night on a car park in west Wales in July last year, Swansea Crown court was told. But Thomas denies murder.

The jury heard that Thomas’ sleep disorder left him unable to control his actions, a term described as “automatism.”

The jury was also told there are two types of automatism: insane automatism and non-insane automatism.

They have been asked to reach a verdict of guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity.

A psychiatrist for the prosecution said Thomas posed “no real risk of repeating his behaviour.”

Doctor Caroline Jacob, a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, added that after looking at the evidence she favoured a verdict of insane automatism.

Jacob also said sending Thomas to a psychiatric hospital was unnecessary and she was in favour of “an absolute discharge.”

On the night of the incident, the couple, who had been married for 40 years, had stopped for the night in a car park in Aberporth, Ceredigion, but their sleep was disturbed by young men who gathered there with their cars, revving their engines and screeching their tyres.

So Thomas decided to move the van to another car park. But at 3.49am the following morning he called police to say he thought he had killed his wife.

He said he had been dreaming that he was fighting with the “boy racers” who had disturbed the couple earlier that night. He thought he had put one of them in a headlock, but when he woke up he realised it was Christine.

Thomas did have medicine to control his sleep disorder, but he had stopped taking it while on holiday with his wife.

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