'Self-absorbed egotist' jailed for killing wife in brutal knife attack

Published on Friday 30 October 2009 21:21

A JEALOUS husband who stabbed his wife more than 30 times in a rage after she admitted to an affair was described by a judge as "egotistical and self-absorbed" as he was jailed for nine years.

Judge Guy Boney, QC, told Alisdair Sinclair, who grew up near Inverness, that he had "slaughtered" his wife Sally, 40, a Vodafone executive, when he "exploded in a frenzy of brutality" at the news of her infidelity.

The judge said his wife had done everything she could to support and help him through his depressive illness until she could take no more.

A jury at Winchester Crown Court found Sinclair, 48, guilty of manslaughter through diminished responsibility and not guilty of the murder.

He had suffered from depression for more than ten years but had not sought help – something the judge said might have avoided the killing, if he had.

Mrs Sinclair was killed by her "controlling" husband of 21 years on 16 August last year.

He flew at his wife in the kitchen of their home when he was told of her infidelity and used several knives to inflict terrible injuries, including an attempt to saw off her head.

Sinclair, who was clinically depressed and obsessed with cleanliness and hoarding cars and clothes, suffered only minor injuries to his hands in the attack, which the prosecution said were self-inflicted.

The jury accepted that his mental illness had substantially impaired his mind during the killing and so lessened his criminal culpability.

The former computer consultant always admitted the killing at the couple's 1 million rented home in Amport, Hampshire, but said his wife had attacked and stabbed him during the violent argument, and he thought he was dying.

In the witness box he said the wounds she had received were "beyond self-defence", but he could not remember inflicting most of them and he denied murder.

Mrs Sinclair was head of business analysis with the mobile phone company, based in Newbury, Berkshire. She had told her husband she did not love him any more and wanted a divorce a few weeks before her death.

"Your wife did everything she possibly could to support and help you and indulge your eccentricities, including spending 100,000 on three cars of the same model you hardly ever used," Mr Boney said.

"She wanted to make the marriage work and save it from collapse. Sally was a very good lady who tried very hard to keep the marriage together. These efforts cost her her life.

"Sally Sinclair appears to have coped with, and tolerated, your behaviour over a long period," he said.

"When eventually she could not take any more of your behaviour you exploded in a frenzy of brutality in reaction to certain information you forced out of her."

The judge said that Sinclair's only thought when the attack took place was not fear or hate but that he was dying, and that showed he was egotistical and self-absorbed to the highest order.

"You took the life of somebody with the highest quality and character … You slaughtered your wife – there is no other word appropriate, given the number and severity of the knife wounds received."

The judge said he accepted Sinclair's moderate to severe depression played a part in the killing and lessened his criminality.

However, he said aggravating features were that part of the attack had been witnessed by children, and that in May 2006 Sinclair was advised to see his GP because a hospital visit had found him to be a "stressed and anxious man".

"You knew from 2006 your condition was becoming worse, yet in spite of the advice given, you did nothing to get yourself treated. If you had, this dreadful event probably would not have happened."

Mr Boney ordered that when Sinclair is released on licence, his treatment should continue.

In mitigation, Robert Fortune, QC, said Sinclair was responding to treatment for his mental illness.

"This case is a tragedy," he said. "Everything the court has heard about Sally Sinclair suggests that she was a thoroughly decent, hard-working woman who provided support for her husband.

"He has to live with the knowledge that he killed the woman he undoubtedly loved."