Wife jailed for killing husband during drunken ‘fight night’

A “guilt-wracked” woman has been jailed for at least 15 years for stabbing her IT executive husband during a regular boozy session dubbed “fight night”.

The Old Bailey in London. Picture: Stock

Natasha Welsh, 43, stabbed “lovable rascal” Martin Welsh with a 15cm kitchen knife on October 26 last year at the family home in Hendon, north-west London.

Their 21-year-old son Kyle had been upstairs on his Playstation and ran down to find his father dying from a stab wound to the chest.

At the time of the killing, Welsh’s relationship with the 47-year-old Celtic fan had turned “toxic”, jurors were told.

The couple were regular drinkers who would consume more alcohol on a Friday, which they called “fight night”.

The mother-of-two was said by her children to have the “strength of 10 men” and behaved like a “lunatic” while under the influence of alcohol.

Alcoholic Welsh had accepted killing her husband but denied murder, claiming she had no memory of that night.

But a jury found her guilty and she was jailed for life with a minimum term of 15 years at the Old Bailey.

Judge Alexia Durran told Welsh: “In recent years, your life has revolved around alcohol. You started drinking in the afternoon before your husband returned from work.

“In a heightened state of intoxication and anger, you picked up a kitchen knife from the block on the work surface and stabbed Martin in the chest.

“I accept you are wracked by guilt about killing Martin and the effect on your children.”

In a statement, the couple’s daughter Charlie told how she and her younger brother “feel we have lost both parents, not one” as a result of the verdict.

She said they missed their “big bubbly” father “immeasurably”, but added: “We know in our heart of hearts our dad would not want our mum to suffer in this way.

“He did genuinely love her no matter what happened and that is the main reason he would never leave her.”

Mr Welsh’s sister Maryrose Welsh said he was a “joker” and a “lovable rascal” who had a wide circle of friends in his native Scotland as well as London.

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