Husband guilty of executive wife's manslaughter
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A jealous husband who stabbed his Vodafone executive wife more than 30 times in a rage after she admitted to an affair was today found guilty of manslaughter.
Sally Sinclair, 40, was killed by "controlling" Alisdair Sinclair in a "frenzied attack" part-witnessed by children on August 16 last year.
He flew at her when he was told of her infidelity and used several knives on his wife of 21 years to inflict terrible injuries, including an attempt to saw off her head.
That wound sliced through her carotid artery on the left side of her neck and into her spinal cord in what was described in court as a sawing action.
Meanwhile Sinclair, who was obsessed with cleanliness and hoarding cars and clothes, only suffered minor injuries to his hands, which the prosecution said were self-inflicted.
The 48-year-old admitted the killing at the couple's luxury £1 million rented home in Amport, Hampshire, but said he was attacked and stabbed by his wife during the violent argument and he thought he was dying.
He was found guilty of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and cleared of her murder after a jury deliberated for seven hours.
In the witness box at Winchester Crown Court he said the wounds she had received were "beyond self defence" but he could not remember inflicting most of them and he denied murder.
Mrs Sinclair was head of business analysis with the mobile phone company based in Newbury, Berkshire. She had told her husband she did not love him anymore and wanted a divorce a few weeks before her death.
Sinclair breathed out heavily as the jury foreman delivered the verdict.
There were cheers from Mrs Sinclair's family watching the proceedings from the public gallery.
The case was adjourned until tomorrow, when Sinclair will be sentenced.
During the trial the court heard that Sinclair was clinically depressed with obsessive compulsive traits and an overwhelming desire for order which led to excessive cleanliness and the hoarding of clothes, CDs and the buying of expensive sports cars.
The jury accepted by finding him guilty of manslaughter by diminished responsibility that he was mentally ill and that substantially impaired his criminal culpability.
Mrs Sinclair's stepfather Barry Alford read out a statement from his wife, and Mrs Sinclair's mother, Nikki.
It read: "My daughter was a wonderful ray of sunshine with the biggest smile in the world. This person blotted out that sunshine in the most disgusting and vile way for so many people who loved her.
"How anybody could do what he did to another human being, let alone someone he purported to love, I have no idea.
"He didn't just kill her, he annihilated her.
"To date he has shown no remorse for his actions so this verdict is extremely disappointing."