West Cowick: Woman convicted of murdering husband jailed for minimum of 9 years

• Video report by Matt Price

A woman who murdered her husband by stabbing him with a kitchen knife while cooking tea has been jailed for a minimum of nine years.

Teresa Hanson, 54, was chopping onions when she stabbed 54-year-old Paul Hanson at their home in the village of West Cowick, East Yorkshire, on 28 December last year.

The former hairdresser denied murder, claiming she stabbed him accidentally, but she was found guilty at Hull Crown Court on 21 September.

The grandmother told 999 call operators she had stabbed him after an argument, but later told police that her husband had walked onto the knife when he walked towards her while she was cooking.

Hanson told jurors she had simply pushed Mr Hanson away because he was shouting in her face, telling her to "throw his f****** tea in the bin", but she forgot she was holding a knife.

She said she went back to chopping onions and only realised her husband had been fatally stabbed when she heard their dog bark.

Hanson was found guilty by a jury after less than three hours of deliberations. A different jury failed to reach a verdict earlier this year.

The couple's son, Ryan Hanson, told the court the family had "never doubted" their mother's version of events and referred to their father's death as "an accident".

During sentencing, Ryan read a victim statement on behalf of himself and his sister, saying their mother had "the full support" of both sides of the family.

He asked the judge for "all your leniency and goodwill" in sentencing his mother, adding: "We have lost our rock, the core of our family, the people who kept us going."

Hanson sobbed as Judge John Thackray KC handed her a life sentence with a minimum of nine years, minus 15 days spent on remand.

The judge said the defendant had been "subject to significant provocation" from Mr Hanson who "not for the first time, was verbally abusing you".

He continued: "You were attempting, in his interests, to curtail his drinking. He sought to continue the argument as you were cooking dinner.

"You used a knife in a spontaneous act of violence by stabbing him to the chest area.

"Not for one moment did you intend to kill your husband, but you did, even if only briefly, intend to cause him serious harm."

The judge added: "I accept you will never forgive yourself and will live with the guilt and burden of his death for the rest of your life.

"However, I don't lose sight of the fact that Paul Hanson, a hard-working, devoted family man, has lost his life due to your criminal act. His provocation to you did not justify your action."

Hanson told the police that her husband could be bad-tempered when he had had a drink, but the court heard she was clear that she did not stab him because he had been abusive to her and that it had been an accident.

Prosecutor Alistair MacDonald KC asked the jury: "Is she really expecting you to believe she failed completely to notice her husband, who must have been just a few paces away from her, was bent double moving away from her, dripping blood all over the kitchen floor?

"She didn't notice any of that. She just went on calmly cooking onions with the same knife.

"Is it credible that in his death agony, as he moved out of that kitchen, that he said absolutely nothing?

"He didn't sigh, groan or gasp? Didn't say 'Teresa, what have you done to me?'"

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