'Controlling' husband jailed for 21 years over attempted murder of wife in Walsall
A "controlling" husband who repeatedly stabbed his wife forcefully near a school in Walsall after she left him has been locked up for 21 years.
Maureen Wedderburn suffered 10 stab wounds to her head and body after Hugh Wedderburn attacked her in West Bromwich Road in Walsall.
She was heading work as a dinner lady on April 6 this year when she was confronted by her husband after their 40-year marriage broke up in March.
Wedderburn, of Newbolt Street in Walsall, had been waiting for her at 7.50am and tried to persuade her to come back to him after she left.
When she refused, the 67-year-old stabbed her repeatedly in front of horrified passers-by to stop "anyone else from having her", a court heard.
Prosecutor Mr John Price KC said there had been a "history of abuse in the form of controlling behaviour" coming from the defendant.
The barrister added the victim recovered from her injuries, which did not require surgery, but the "scars she sustained will, of course, be permanent".
A witness statement, read by Mr Price KC on behalf of Maureen to Wolverhampton Crown Court, said she felt "so much better" and was "excited" by the new chapter in her life – with one regret being "he was not out of my life sooner".
Mr Phillip Brunt, defending Wedderburn, said his client was 67 and "without trying to be dramatic" the reality was he is likely to emerge from custody either a very old man, or he would "not emerge from custody at all".
Mr Brunt said the relationship had "its difficulties over the years" and the defendant did not accept "he had been towards Mrs Wedderburn any different from any other husband, as he had put it" which was not the evidence she gave, the court heard.
The barrister added: "He has expressed his remorse, that he is sorry for what has happened. He is sorry for what he did and the effect it's going to have on him, he will be alone and isolated without any support from his family, his children, his grandchildren, in the coming years which will cause him to suffer. "
And the court was told Wedderburn "still does not understand why he did what he did" with a "lot of factors" being in his mind, including a lot of "beliefs, hopes and fears".
The defendant, of Newbolt Street in Delves, Walsall, was found guilty of attempted murder on October 20 after a jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court deliberated for 90 minutes.
Judge Michael Chambers KC, passing sentence at the court on Thursday, said Wedderburn had came "extremely close" to ending his wife's life and ignored pleas from the public to stop.
Wedderburn, aged 67, was jailed for 21 years for attempted murder. He received no separate punishment for an offence of wounding or possession of a bladed article. A restraining order was put in place which forbids him from contacting his wife either directly or indirectly, with an order to seize the blade and destroy it.
