John Berry jailed for murdering ill wife in Holland-on-Sea

An 85-year-old man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 10 years after murdering his mentally ill wife with a hammer and chisel.

John Berry admitted murdering wife Edna, 80, at their home in Holland-on-Sea, Essex, on 21 February 2023.

Berry told police he lost his temper after Mrs Berry, who had Alzheimer's, "kicked and scratched at him".

Judge Christopher Morgan said Berry, who was his wife's primary carer, had "stubbornly" declined extra support.

He said the defendant saw the murder as a "misguided act of mercy" and added the case was an "utter tragedy".

Emergency workers found Mrs Berry on the floor in the couple's bedroom, which was covered in a "considerable amount of blood spatter", Chelmsford Crown Court heard.

"[She was] seriously injured with obvious face and head injuries but she was alive," prosecutor Andrew Jackson said.

"She was heard to call out to her husband at that point. Lying beside her head were a blood-stained hammer and a blood-stained chisel."

Mrs Berry was airlifted from their home in Turpins Close to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge but she died of "catastrophic injuries".

She had suffered at least 14 blows from a baseball bat and a hammer, with at least two of them involving the use of a chisel, the court heard.

Mr Jackson said the defendant "lost his temper" and "formed the intention to kill his wife" after she "kicked and scratched" at him following a fall.

Asked during police interview how much force he had used with the hammer, he said: "Obviously not enough".

Laurie-Anne Power KC, mitigating, said Berry called a care home on the day of the killing and showed signs of conceding he needed help.

"They had, in fact, made a pact with each other that they would not place each other in a care home," she said.

Ms Power said his loved ones had since suggested "perhaps more could have been done" to support him.

"He has no recollection of the events, only that he wanted to end the pain and suffering as quickly and least painfully as possible," she added.

Judge Morgan said the Berrys' marriage of 61 years was "a loving relationship" in which they were both devoted to each other.

"You tried and succeeded, until that point, to make her life comfortable," he concluded.

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