Wife death man 'feared arrest'
A TOP hospital scientist told a colleague he feared he would be arrested after his wife was found dead at their home, a court heard.
Andrew Booth went to work at Doncaster Royal Infirmary, where he was head of biomedical sciences, five days after his wife Lorraine died and told colleague Beverley Crossley that a post mortem had been unable to find a cause of death.
Ms Crossley told Sheffield Crown Court Booth was 'agitated' and 'distressed' and asked her if pathologists could determine whether injuries they found were due to his attempts to resuscitate her.
She added: "He said, 'I'm really worried I'm going to be arrested for this'.
"I said it had crossed my mind that she had not stayed at the family home since moving out apart from that night and it didn't look good."
Booth, aged 44, of Tankersley Lane, Hoyland Common, Barnsley, denies murdering his wife last July.
He is alleged to have stolen a bottle of anaesthetic, used it to knock out Lorraine, aged 50, then suffocated her with a cushion as their daughter, aged 21, and 12-year-old son slept upstairs, before ringing 999.
At first police did not treat the case as suspicious. But when Mrs Booth's family expressed concern, a second, forensic, post mortem examination was held. It found she died from suffocation and the anaesthetic Enflurane was found in her blood.
The couple were living apart and planning to divorce. A settlement could have won Mrs Booth 60,000.
The court heard Booth told friends and work colleagues his wife was an alcoholic. But Mrs Booth told friends she had found evidence he was spiking her drinks with pure alcohol.
Ms Crossley told the court she had had 'heart to hearts' with Booth. She said: "I understood his wife was an alcoholic and she was unable to care for the children."
Ms Crossley said Booth rang her the day after his wife's death.
"He said she was having panic attacks because she was afraid she would not survive the night. She slept on the sofa in the conservatory and he told me he came downstairs for a drink of water in the night and found her warm but not breathing.
"He rang 999 and was told to do resuscitation until paramedics arrived."
The trial continues.
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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