NESTON, United Kingdom — A British woman was sentenced to life in prison after she was convicted of murdering and killing her husband with boiling water mixed with sugar.
Corinna Smith, 58, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after prosecutors said she burned her husband, 81--year-old Michael Baines, and caused 35 percent of burns to his body.
British police say Smith was angry and upset about a rumor circulating about her husband that she believed to be true.
British media reports that Smith believed her husband to be a child abuser.
As her husband slept, police say Smith poured boiling water mixed with 3kg of sugar on Baines and burned his torso and arms. Smith left the home however, she later called police and told officers that she severely injured Baines.
He died a month later.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Hughes, from Cheshire Constabulary’s Major Crime Directorate, said: “Smith killed her husband Michael in such a painful and cruel way. To throw boiling water over someone when they are asleep is absolutely horrific. To also mix three bags of sugar with the water showed the determination she had to cause serious harm.
“The sugar placed into the water makes it vicious. It becomes thicker and stickier and sinks into the skin better. It left Michael in agony and rather than call the emergency services she wasted time by going to a house nine doors away to tell a neighbour, who she wasn’t close to, what she had done.
“Michael was an elderly man who fought for his life after the attack but sadly in the end he passed away. My thoughts continue to be with his family at this incredibly difficult time.”
