82-YEAR-OLD MAN JAILED FOR MURDER OF GIRLFRIEND IN BIRMINGHAM
Bernard Ingleby, an 82-year-old pensioner, was convicted of fatally stabbing his elderly girlfriend, Elsie Ford.He was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 11 years, after pleading guilty to the murder.
The court heard that Ingleby pushed the 77-year-old Mrs.
Ford down her stairs in her Kings Norton home before stabbing her across the neck with a kitchen knife.
He then returned home and wrote a diary entry confessing to the crime, expressing remorse and expressing confusion about his motives, saying, “Early this morning I ended Mary’s life.
Why, I don’t know.
I loved Mary but not as much as my wife.
I’m not able to understand why I have done something so awful.” Ingleby had warned a friend that “If I can’t have her, nobody can,” suggesting a violent, possessive personality.
During the trial, he claimed the fall was accidental and that he only ‘flipped’ after she threatened to call the police.
He explained that he lost his temper during an argument and used a knife, but law enforcement did not accept his version of events.
After the killing, Ingleby covered her body and admitted the crime, revealing he had experienced severe depression following the death of his wife in 2006.
The judge called the case extraordinary, emphasizing that Ingleby was unlikely to be released, starting with an 11-year minimum sentence and a strong possibility of remaining in prison for life.
