Jury on break in wife’s trial for murder

THE jury in the trial of a woman accused of trying to kill her husband before meeting another man she met on the internet was sent home for the weekend yesterday.

Joanne Hale is accused of slitting her husband’s throat after taking him to a wood in Bristol.

Hale, 39, denies attempting to murder her husband Peter, 43, as well as wounding him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, on December 27 last year.

It is alleged that, after she gave Mr Hale a natural aphrodisiac called “horny goat weed” on the promise of sex in the woods, she inflicted a 12cm long slash to his throat before stabbing him, including an almost fatal wound to his chest which caused lung collapse and cardiac arrest.

Hale had struck up a relationship over the internet with married postal worker Philip Sudol, who travelled from Leeds to Bristol for a romantic liaison.

It is claimed she then left Mr Hale with a passerby, without saying she knew him, before driving to the railway station and meeting Mr Sudol in person for the first time.

Mr Sudol, who was not charged, has been present in the public gallery.

Hale has been described as having a “heart of gold” by friends, who said she was a “caring, understanding” woman.