A woman who stabbed her husband, who had dementia, with a kitchen knife and then lied that he had accidentally fallen on it has been jailed.
Daryl Berman told police that David Berman, 84, had stumbled while he took a lunch tray into the kitchen of their home in Prestwich, Bury, on 13 March last year.
Berman, 72, claimed her husband of 27 years had said, “It’s OK, I slipped” before she heard a groan and she ran in to discover him face down and covered in blood.
Her account was initially accepted but her actions “unravelled” when suspicions were raised about the injury and a post-mortem examination later concluded it was non-accidental. She was sentenced to life with a minimum of 12 years.
Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard retired joiner Mr Berman also had a stab wound to his right middle finger, which prosecutors said was a common self-defence injury.
Paramedics attended the couple’s home on Butterstile Lane after the defendant dialled 999 but they were unable to save her husband.
Officers spoke to Berman on the driveway of her home and she said: “You don’t think I murdered him do you?”
She was said to be “very calm and matter of fact”, the prosecution said, and also had little blood on her, despite stating she had rolled Mr Berman over.
Last week she was convicted by a jury of murder.
