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A GASLIGHTING and spiteful wife from Dorset, who attacked her husband with his own walking stick after spending years bullying him, has avoided jail. Dennis Dowding, a retired university head of law, put up with continuous mental abuse while living with his wife Valerie Dowding. The treatment he suffered led to Mr Dowding having to live in his own room at the couple s marital home and said he felt gaslighted by his wife.
Victim of years of abuse Dennis Dowding In one particularly cruel act, 76-year-old Dowding tormented her academic husband by deliberately destroying many of his beloved books. Matters came to a head when she slapped him and hit him on the head with the walking stick in a row over their dog.
Valerie Dowding, 76, spent a decade mentally abusing her husband and retired academic, Dennis, a court heard.
In one particularly cruel act Mrs Dowding tormented her 80-year-old husband - who claimed he was a victim of gaslighting - by deliberately destroying his beloved books. Dennis was hospitalised after he was struck over the head with his walking stick following a row over the family dog.
In handing her a suspended prison sentence, Judge Robert Pawson compared spiteful Mrs Dowding s behaviour to that of a bully.
Pictured is Valerie Dowding, 76, who tormented her elderly husband, retired Bournemouth law professor Dennis, for a decade