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
Locked up in March: 12 Dorset criminals jailed for total of more than XXyears CRIMINALS put behind bars in April for Dorset offences include three young thugs who burgled a family home, a drug dealer who peddled Class As while on bail and a robber who threatened shop staff with a syringe. The courts are dealing with more and more cases, including jury trials, as the national lockdown easing continues. The list below includes 12 offenders that were put behind bars by judges last month. Their combined sentences totalled 54 years and and two weeks imprisonment. Some of them could be released on licence part way through their time behind bars, while several were issued with extended licence periods as they were deemed to be dangerous offenders .
The list below includes some of the offenders that were put behind bars by judges during April. The offenders names and a summary of what led to them appearing in the dock are as follows:
‘Dangerous’ robber headbutted man and stormed flat Christopher David Davies headbutted a man outside a flat in Lennox Street on January 14 before entering the property, stabbing a sofa and taking around £400 from the victim, Bournemouth Crown Court heard. Davies pleaded guilty to assault, robbery and criminal damage. The court heard 35-year-old Davies headbutted a man before entering the flat with two other men. Prosecutor Charlene Sumnall said: He headbutted the victim at the front door of the flat. Once inside he said, give us the drugs and money and if you don t give us what we want we will stab you .
A MAN has pleaded guilty to causing a boy serious injuries by driving dangerously. Daniel James Jeff admitted a series of offences in relation to when he was at the wheel of a Mercedes A180 and collided with the child in Melbury Avenue, Poole. The boy suffered life-changing injuries having been hit on the head by the car and carried on the vehicle before striking the pavement on August 21, last year. Jeff, 28 and of Tollard Close, Poole, pleaded guilty to charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, drug driving, possessing 22 grams of cannabis and failing to stop after the collision when he appeared at Poole Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
TWO MEN are to be sentenced after assaulting another man at midnight on The Esplanade. Lewis Lovell and Robert Reynolds pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm to another man on Weymouth s seafront just after 12am on November 30 last year, a court heard. Lovell, aged 24, of St Martin s Road on Portland and Reynolds, aged 25, from Castle Way, Southampton pleaded guilty to the offence at Bournemouth Crown Court. A spokesman from Dorset Police said: This case relates to a reported assault that occurred on The Esplanade in Weymouth shortly after 12am on November 30 2020. The court heard how since the assault, Reynolds had been suffering with mental health issues.