A man who stabbed his wife 10 times - including to her head - in the middle of the street has been jailed.
Hugh Wedderburn had split from his wife a fortnight earlier after years of abuse. Following their split, however, he decided that 'if he couldn't have her, then nobody would', a court heard.
Wedderburn attacked his wife, a dinner lady, as she walked to work, stabbing her to her chest and head in front of horrified onlookers as she screamed to them 'he is killing me'. Miraculously, his wife survived the attack but she has been left with permanent scars.
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The 67-year-old was unamiously convicted of attempted murder following a trial last week, BirminghamLive reports. He has now been jailed for 21 years.
'You were intent on killing her'
Sentencing, Judge Michael Chambers KC said Wedderburn was 'intent on killing his estranged wife' in the attack in West Bromwich Road, Walsall, on April 6.
He said: "You, in full anger, and so in preventing anyone else from having her, you tried to end her life. You came close to succeeding.
"You stabbed her some 10 times. The first stabbing was to her head, the others were to her chest and body. She fell to the ground. You even lifted her arm so as to get a closer blow to her chest.
"This was in full view of pedestrians, children, householders, who were clearly horrified by what they saw."
During his trial, jurors were told how the woman left her daughter's home and walked towards Walstead Road at about 8am on the day of the attack. She was heading to work when she spotted her husband leaning against railings.
Wedderburn had been following his wife, 'effectively stalking her', Mr Price told the court. He was 'desperate' to speak to her, asking why she was late before saying "when I saw you on the Monday, you left earlier".
The woman said she was not late and tried to ignore him, but he followed her and said he was 'missing her'. The dad went on to say he was not sleeping, wanted his wife back and needed to talk before bringing up 'Vincent' again.
She had reached nearby West Bromwich Road when Wedderburn began stabbing her. The grandmother collapsed to the ground and tried to kick out 'with no effect' before screaming 'he is killing me'.
A number of witnesses saw the incident, with one man helping the woman into his home before emergency services arrived. Police rushed to the scene at 8.05am, with officers noticing Wedderburn sitting on a wall grasping a 'blood-soaked' knife.
Officers pointed a Taser at him before he dropped to the ground and was arrested, with a larger knife then discovered in a bag he had with him.
Attack followed years of abuse
Wedderburn was 'controlling' throughout the couple's 41-year-marriage, becoming 'paranoid' his wife was cheating on him and regularly accusing her of having an affair with a man called Vincent who she had never met, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
His controlling behaviour - which also included 'restricting' what she wore - was a form of 'abuse', prosecutor Robert Price said. Philip Brunt, defending, said Wedderburn 'does not understand' why he thrust a blade into his wife's body.
He said: "The reality is he is likely to emerge from custody a very old man or not emerge from custody at all." Jamaica-born Wedderburn - who moved to the UK aged 11 - was seeing a psychiatrist in the 1990s, the court heard.
Mr Brunt added: "He will be alone and isolated, without any support from his family, his children or grandchildren in the coming years and that is something that will cause him to suffer.
"This was shocking to him, as well as to the others who were around." Wedderburn, of Newbolt Street, Walsall, was also handed an indefinite restraining order.
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