ELDERLY MAN SPARED JAIL AFTER KILLING WIFE OVER CARE FEARS
An 84-year-old man named Edward Chopping, who was frail and elderly, was spared imprisonment after he murdered his ill wife due to fears she would be placed in a care home.In May of the previous year, Chopping hanged his wife, Joan, at their residence in East Ham, east London.
Following the incident, he attempted to take his own life by overdose and hanging, but the rope snapped.
Emergency responders found Joan's lifeless body the next morning, while Chopping was sitting on a stool, crying.
He later expressed his feelings, saying: "I loved her so much and could not see her suffer any longer.
I know it was wrong, but I’m not sorry I did it.
She’s in a better place now." The court was informed that Mrs.
Chopping’s health had deteriorated after suffering a stroke, making it difficult for her husband of 67 years to care for her.
During a recent hospital visit, she couldn’t recognize her husband or daughter.
Prosecutor David Markham explained: "It’s clear the defendant believed that caring for her was solely his responsibility, and his daughter noted he needed a lot of persuasion to accept help.
He was terrified she might be taken into a care facility away from him." Chopping admitted to manslaughter and was given a nine-month jail sentence, suspended for one year, by Judge Brian Barker, known as the Common Serjeant of London.
Now residing in a care home, the elderly man left the court supported by family, using a walking frame, and crying as the judge called the case "tragic." The judge commented: "Your determination to manage and care for your wife was your downfall." His lawyer, Miranda Moore QC, added: "He and Joan had been through a lot together.
He wanted to care for her.
He was a man in deep distress."
