Clydebank pensioner cleared of killing his wife
Neil Crilley, 77, who said his wife Maureen, 67, had a fear of doctors and needles and begged him not to dial 999, walked free from court.
A pensioner who left his wife of 39 years lying immobile on the living room floor for eight weeks without getting medical help was today cleared of killing her.
Neil Crilley, 77, who said his wife Maureen, 67, had a fear of doctors and needles and begged him not to dial 999, walked free from court.
Outside court one of his his wife's sisters Kate Friel, 58, shouted at Mr Crilley: “You evil bastard. You killed my sister. “
Her sister May Mackie, 68, said: “There is no justice for my sister. He left my sister to rot. He left her lying for eight or nine weeks. How could any human being do that. He left her to die. The paramedics and doctors spoke of holes in her back – one the size of a saucer.”
A third sister Helen Jamieson said: 'She was lying there and I live only a short distance away. He could have come round and I would have got help for her.”
Mr Crilley, of Bell Street, Whitecrook, Clydebank, a former shipyard worker with BAE Systems, was accused of his wife's culpable homicide by failing to seek timely medical help for her between July 1 and September 2, 2017. The jury found the case against him not proven by a majority.
The High Court in Glasgow heard Mr Crilley eventually dialled 999 on September 2, 2017.
When medics arrived at the couple's home she was lying naked on her back with a double fracture of her left leg and two suppurating sores – one the size of a saucer – on her back.
She died at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, two days later from spinal meningitis.
In evidence, Mr Crilley said he cooked mince and potatoes and fish cakes for her while she lay on the floor with a broken leg.
He said he had no sense of smell and did not realise how bad her injuries were.
He sobbed as he told of how now he visited her grave every day and spoke to her.
Mr Crilley told his QC Tony Graham: “I look at a picture of her every day and have a chat to her, like I do at her grave.
“I totally failed her. I didn’t know the pain she was in until I heard the doctor the other day.”
Mr Crilley said his wife “begged” him not to call an ambulance and added: “I knew she fell, but I didn’t know if she had a broken leg.”
The court heard Maureen would have survived if medical treatment had been sought promptly.
Mr Crilley was asked if he had wanted his wife dead and replied: “No, God, No. Maureen was my life, I will never smile again. I wanted to look after her for the time we had left.”
He told jurors that his wife would hide her illnesses from him to avoid going to the doctors. In 2009 she broke her kneecap and he said it took him six weeks to persuade her to go to hospital.
Jurors heard a 999 call where Crilley told the operator: “My wife fell eight or nine weeks ago in the living room and this can't go on.
“She begged me not to phone but she is in terrible need. She is terrified of needles and doesn't want to go to hospital.”
Mr Crilley refused to comment as he left court.
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