Man jailed for manslaughter of wife

5:20pm Tuesday 11th March 2008

Comments (4)   Have your say »

A Blackpool father-of-three who claimed he couldn't remember stabbing his wife has been cleared of murder by a jury at Preston crown court.

But 49-year-old Christopher Parkes of Houseman Place, Blackpool, was found guilty of manslaughter on a majority verdict and was jailed for six years.

The Judge Mr Justice David Clarke said it was a totally one-off event and remained unexplained.

But although short lived, it was a ferocious and very violent attack.

At a previous trial, the jury had been unable to reach a verdict.

Parkes' wife Angela, a 49-year-old civil servant, suffered two stab wounds to the heart at the family home in May last year. She also had other wounds to the neck, chin and arms.

Parkes, who works for a gas company, broke down as he told the jury he could not recall the attack and insisted he would never have intended to hurt his wife.

The court heard that the couple married in 1979 and Parkes said he adored his wife.

He told the jury he remembered seeing her on the kitchen floor but not how she got there.