An astonishing story on a number of levels, not least for the derisory ‘punishment’ meted out to the dead man’s wife and a female accomplice. The misleading headline claims he ‘died of natural causes’. We’ll never know if he did, or he didn’t. From the article:
The inquest heard how the pathologist who undertook a post-mortem on Mr Sturdey’s body could not give a formal cause of death, and he could only be identified from his dental records.
Mr Sturdey’s GP, Jacqueline James, the last professional person to see him alive, paid him a visit in October 2008, and identified a number of risk factors, including diabetes and high blood pressure, which she likened to a ‘ticking time bomb’.
But what of the ‘punishment’ meted out to the two women? From the article:
In February this year, they were each given 20-month prison sentences at Swansea Crown Court after pleading guilty to unlawful burial and fraud. At an inquest into Mr Sturdey’s death, Ceredigion coroner Peter Brunton declined to offer his condolences to Mrs Sturdey, who was present at the inquest having already completed the custodial part of her punishment, because it would ‘not be appropriate’.
What message does all this send to wives of 60-year-old men with diabetes and high blood pressure? That even if they bury their husband’s body for a number of years and steal £77,000 in benefits, their ‘punishment’ will be just 20 months in jail. I’m 56, diabetic, and I have high blood pressure. I’m a ‘ticking time bomb’, apparently, which will surely come as welcome news to Laura Bates, Caroline Criado-Perez, Julie Bindel, Kat Banyard, and quite a number of other ladies…
Fortunately, I’m not married – if I were, I don’t think I’d sleep too well at night. As we keep saying, given how utterly toxic marriage has been for men for decades, Men shouldn’t marry.
