Killer knifeman, 92, ‘changed after eye op’

Stanley Wilson believed wife Peggie, 89, was trying to poison him and that other family members were in on the “plot”.

Their bodies were found in the front bedroom of their home in Kendal, Cumbria, on February 18, last year.

Former quarry worker Mr Wilson had started to lose his sight and had an operation for a detached retina at St Paul’s Hospital in Liverpool after Christmas.

Relatives of the “devoted couple” and their neighbours told an inquest into their deaths that his behaviour drastically changed following surgery.

The pensioner believed his wife was attempting to alter his mind so that he would change his will and refused to eat any meals she served.

She suffered multiple injuries, with numerous knife wounds to the neck – one which severed her jugular vein – and blunt trauma injuries to the face and head, consistent with punching.

Pathologist Dr Alison Armour told the Kendal hearing: “This frail old lady died as a result of a sustained and violent assault.”

She said Mr Wilson died from self-inflicted knife wounds, with many again to the neck.

Giving evidence, Mrs Wilson’s daughter, Sandra Smith, from Leeds, said that “out of the blue” her mother rang her in January last year to tell her of the poison accusations.

“He would not let her make any meals or even make a cup of tea,” she said. It was totally out of character for him.”

The hearing continues today.