Wife murdered 'kind-hearted' husband after drinking six cocktails on night out in Wakefield

A woman has been found guilty of stabbing her husband to death in their home after downing cocktails on her birthday night out.

During a two-week trial, Leeds Crown Court heard how Lisa Ellwood, 40, attacked Ryan Ellwood at their home in Greenwood Court, Wakefield, on 29 August last year.

She stabbed him with a knife, piercing his rib, lung and aorta.

Ellwood claimed to have no recollection of the attack, and even suggested her 16-year-old daughter could have been responsible.

The court heard the couple had visited a bar in the town earlier in the evening and that Ellwood had "around six" cocktails.

A supervisor at the Blind Pig pub said he had seen them that night and they were in "good spirits."

He said: "They seemed to be having a laugh and a joke all evening."

But during the trial friends of Ryan told how he had "deteriorated into the shell of a man" over the course of the marriage.

In his closing speech to the jury on Monday, prosecutor Craig Hassall KC said: "Those people who knew him before or through the relationship described him in their witness statements as a quiet and kind-hearted man who would do anything for anyone.

"They also said throughout the relationship he became more introverted and deteriorated into a shell of a man."

The jury heard that Ellwood sought to portray herself as a "battered wife" and told doctors she had been the victim of domestic violence.

However, witnesses recalled her attacking her husband in public, even fighting with a staff member at a pub after Mr Ellwood took a selfie with two work colleagues.

Mr Hassall said: "The prosecution wouldn't have been especially concerned about telling you the detail of the previous incident but it obviously becomes relevant when she seeks to portray herself as a battered wife.

"When she says she had no sense of self, and he dominated her thoughts and physically. When she seeks to show herself in that way it becomes necessary to show the whole side of the story."

After being found guilty on Tuesday, 12 March, Ellwood is due to be sentenced on Wednesday afternoon.

As she was led from the dock into custody, cries could be heard throughout the courtroom.

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