Wife kills husband with boiling water over rumors he abused her kids, British court says

Incensed last summer by accusations her 81-year-old husband had abused their two children as youngsters, a Neston, England, woman poured boiling water over him as he slept, a British court ruled.

He died in August 2020 after lingering five weeks in the hospital with extensive burns, BBC News reported.

Now the 59-year-old woman will serve 12 years to life in prison in his death, Cheshire police reported.

“To throw boiling water over someone when they are asleep is absolutely horrific,” said Detective Chief Inspector Paul Hughes in a statement.

The woman mixed the boiling water with sugar to make it more viscous, Hughes said.

“It becomes thicker and stickier and sinks into the skin better,” he said.

After pouring the searing, syrupy mix on her husband as he slept, the woman went to a neighbor’s house instead of calling authorities, police say.

“I’ve hurt him really bad, I think I’ve killed him,” she told the neighbor, who called police. Officers found her husband “in excruciating pain and whimpering in bed,” police said.

The woman had learned the day before that her daughter had accused her husband of sexually abusing her and her brother, who took his life in 2007, as young children, the Liverpool Echo reported.

She was “fuming” and “livid” over the accusations, which prosecutors said have not been proven, according to the publication.

Police described the accusation only as “a rumour circulating about her husband that she believed to be true.”

“Although the background provides some explanation as to why you did what you did, I am sure you know that it cannot provide an excuse,” Justice Amanda Yip told the woman, the Cheshire Standard reported,

This story was originally published July 11, 2021 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Wife kills husband with boiling water over rumors he abused her kids, British court says."