A great grandmother finally 'snapped' and killed her husband after years of abuse because he smiled at her when she told him they were in financial peril.
Shy and submissive Janet Dunn had suffered at the hands of 'domineering' Anthony Dunn for years as he subjected her to controlling behaviour. Despite his "grandiose" promises of riches, his reckless business behaviour had left them in danger of losing their home at Darras Hall, in Ponteland, where their daughter and great grandchildren also lived.
While their daughter, Helen Telford, was in the house, Dunn reacted to her 81-year-old husband's smile by holding a pillow over his face until he stopped breathing in their bedroom in their home on the estate's Beech Court on March 15. She then told Helen she was popping to the chemist but instead went to Bolam Lake, in Northumberland, and tried to commit suicide.
