Sobbing man admits killing his wife

Simon Bristow

A HUSBAND sobbed as he admitted stabbing to death his wife of more than 40 years after a head injury led him to undergo a dangerous personality change.

David Ault believed his wife Jill, 63, no longer wanted to be with him and repeatedly stabbed her in the neck and body with a carving knife in the bedroom of their home in March this year.

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Ault cried into a handkerchief at Hull Crown Court as he pleaded guilty to manslaughter with diminished responsibility.

The court heard the 68-year-old had fallen down the stairs of the couple’s home in 2006 and suffered broken bones and a head injury.

The accident changed his personality and Ault, who suddenly began to have bouts of aggressive behaviour, spent months in hospital learning to speak, read and write again.

He became obsessed with getting his wife to sign documents to release the equity in their three-bedroom home because he believed she did not want him.

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The former insurance broker wrote notes saying: “I will win. I will beat Jill”, which were found together with a knife wrapped in an envelope.

Ault first become violent towards his wife two days before her death when he pinned her to a chair and demanded she sign the papers.

Their daughter Rebecca, 38, heard her mother’s cries for help in the couple’s house in Pollington, East Yorkshire, and pulled him away. Ault left the home but returned later, acting as if nothing had happened, and two days later attacked her with a knife before calling the police to tell them what he had done.

He claimed his wife had been trying to kill him since 2007 and said they had an argument which had just “festered”.

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Mrs Ault was still alive when police arrived and was able to tell them her husband of 42 years had stabbed her. She died on her way to hospital.

Ault will be sentenced next month.

The couple, who also have a son Martin, 34, used to own a franchise of an insurance company in Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

Det Chief Insp Steve Hibbitt, from Humberside Police’s major incident team, said: “From the early stages of this investigation it was clear that Ault had killed his wife Jill.

“The issues around his mental state at the time however, proved more complex and required significant investigation.

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“This has been a very difficult time for their children, particularly as this event occurred in the family home and could not have been anticipated.

“Although their lives can never be the same due to the tragic loss of their mother, I hope the timely conclusion of the criminal case will help them in some small way to begin rebuilding their lives.”

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