Edward Turpin told the court that he still talks to his wife on the phone every day
A 90-year-old man who repeatedly stabbed his blind, ill wife after she woke him up one night has been given a suspended prison sentence.
Edward Turpin, from Orpington, south-east London, got a carving knife from the kitchen and attacked Joan Turpin, 90, in bed at their home in September 2021.
He had previously been cleared of attempted murder and wounding with intent, but was convicted of wounding with reckless abandon.
Turpin was sentenced to two years at the Old Bailey, suspended for two years.
The couple had been married for over 60 years and Joan Turpin had become increasingly dependent on her husband.
The retired butcher told the court he stabbed her to calm her down and stop her screaming.
Turpin, who also injured himself with a carving knife, told jurors the “last thing” he ever wanted to do was hurt his wife, who is blind and needs a catheter.
“I just love my wife and if you get married, for better or for worse, OK, if it turns out to be a little bit worse, I’ll keep going,” he said.
Turpin was sentenced in his absence after being hospitalized with chest infection and pneumonia.
His wife has been in a nursing home since the knife attack and can only speak to her husband by phone.
Prosecutor Alistair Richardson read out a statement drawn up by a care worker at Mrs Turpin’s behest, which said her “whole life has been turned upside down”.
“Joan is very wary of strangers after the knife attack and needs constant reassurance from acquaintances,” the statement said.
Simon Gledhill told the court that Turpin was extremely remorseful for what happened and had on more than one occasion expressed a strong desire to hug his wife and say he was sorry.
Sentencing the 90-year-old, Judge Alexia Durran said he would “never be allowed to live independently with his wife again”.
He added that Turpin’s actions “cannot go unpunished. What happened that September morning should never have happened.”
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