Cambridgeshire nurse who killed husband with insulin loses legal appeal

A nurse convicted of murdering her disabled husband by injecting him with insulin has lost a second legal fight to clear her name.

Deborah Winzar, 56, was found guilty of killing Dominic McCarthy, who died days after being found unconscious at home in Stonely, Cambridgeshire in 1997.

Lawyers for Winzar had argued fresh medical evidence undermined the prosecution's case.

But judges have dismissed her bid to overturn her conviction.

A previous challenge was dismissed by the Court of Appeal in December 2002.

Mr McCarthy, who was paralysed in a motorcycle accident in 1984, was found unconscious in bed on 31 January 1997 and died in Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Huntingdon 10 days later, aged 34.

Tests found he had a very high insulin level and the prosecution case at trial was that his wife had the opportunity to administer it and the skills to inject it.

Winzar denied wrongdoing and maintained he died from natural causes, but she was found guilty of murder.

She was given a life sentence in 2000, but has served her 15-year minimum term and has been released from prison.

A fresh appeal against her conviction was referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Her lawyers argued that new evidence from medical experts undermined the case in relation to the "inappropriately high" insulin levels, and established a potential natural cause for the hypoglycaemia that killed him.

But, rejecting the appeal, Lady Justice Macur said: "In summary, we do not see how the 'fresh' evidence, so called, can be said to dilute the medical case against the appellant, or transform its perspective.

"The new evidence does not provide any ground for allowing the appeal."

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