A woman killed her husband after the growing pressures of their buy-to-let empire caused irreparable damage to their relationship.
65-year-old Jennifer Parkinson denies murdering her 63-year-old husband Michael Parkinson at their luxury flat in Gosport and claims that although she was angry, she was never intended to kill him when she “hit out with a knife in my hand”.
Winchester Crown Court heard that Mr Parkinson had suffered three stab wounds on the evening of March 22 2010. One wound entered his body below his left arm, fracturing a rib, puncturing his lung and damaging his aorta, causing fatal bleeding. He died in hospital despite the efforts of paramedics and surgeons to save him.
Nigel Lickley QC, prosecuting, said Mrs Parkinson claimed to have drunk a litre of wine that day. Mr Parkinson, a retired headteacher, was also mildly intoxicated, according to toxicology results.
Mrs Parkinson told police during interviews that they had both been in the habit of drinking heavily and that this often led to arguments.
Mr Lickley told the court Mr Parkinson had worked as a headteacher in Rutland and left the profession after suffering a nervous breakdown.
He and his wife then invested in the buy-to-let market and are alleged to have owned 20 properties at the time of his death.
Yet despite owning a sizeable portfolio, Mr Lickley said rising interest rates and flooding costs had caused their profits to plummet to the point where they were losing £4,000 a month and were on the verge of bankruptcy.
The couple then moved into a J-reg motor home in an effort to cut costs.
However, at the time of Mr Parkinson’s death, Mrs Parkinson reported that their financial situation had improved and they were earning £2,000 a month profit.
They had moved into the £330,000 sea-view flat in Gosport days before Mr Parkinson died.
Describing the fatal argument, Mrs Parkinson said: “I would never want to kill my husband, I was just angry, viciousness, but never to take his life.
“I was, like, hitting out but with a knife in my hand. It has never happened before.”
The court heard how Mrs Parkinson had admitted stabbing her husband in the back and had not acted in self defence.
Mr Lickley said Mrs Parkinson told police: “Properties cause rows and stress. He (Mr Parkinson) blamed her for going into the buy-to-let market in the first place.”
The trial is ongoing.
