Woman strangled husband to death with dressing gown cord after row

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A woman strangled her husband of 31 years to death with a dressing gown cord after a row before leaving his body in their house for three days.

Lorraine Smith, 63, killed her 70-year-old husband Andrew Smith in the early hours of 13 December 2021 and then called police, telling them: “I think it was me”.

Police and paramedics went to the property in Beauvale Gardens, Peterborough, where they found Mr Smith dead, Cambridgeshire Constabulary said.

In a police interview, Smith described feeling confused and having “some sort of vision”. She told officers she recalled having an argument with her husband before grabbing the cord from his dressing gown and pulling it tight around his neck until he lost consciousness.

Smith pleaded guilty to manslaughter at Peterborough Crown Court on 11 May, on the basis of diminished responsibility, She was sentenced on 2 June where she was detained via a hospital order.

Diminished responsibility is enacted when a defendant is deemed to be suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning, and therefore not in full control of their actions.

DC Kirsty Forth said: “This is a tragic case where a man has lost his life prematurely. I hope now the case has been concluded his family can begin to move on with their lives.”