Husband rigs up electric chair to kill wife

The 61-year-old Andrew Castle got so furious when his wife of 18 years asked him for a divorce that he rigged up a homemade electric chair in his garage and try to kill her.

Upon learning of his wife’s divorce demand, Castle attached a metal armchair in the garage of his Lancashire bungalow to the mains with electric cables, and then invited his wife for “a chat”.

Margaret, his wife, had a narrow escape when she got up from the chair before Andrew could knock her unconscious with a rubber cosh and then turn on the switch, as he’d planned, police said.

There was a struggle, during which Margaret, also 61-year-old, hit him several times with the cosh. She escaped through a side door, but the fight continued outside their bungalow before a passerby intervened and called the police, court heard.

Margaret was treated in hospital for minor head injuries. Her husband was found in the back garden with self-inflicted knife wounds to his wrists after grabbing a blade from the kitchen. Castle admitted attempted murder and was jailed for 10 years.

Castle said he was “simply unable to cope” with the divorce and found it “overwhelming”. A psychiatric report said that he had obsessive compulsive disorder and an adjustment disorder.

Margaret, who accused her husband of being “domineering and controlling”, said: “It is by sheer good fortune that I am here today.

“I now wish to be left in peace and I am determined to move forward on my own terms.”

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