A 70-year-old woman who stabbed her husband in the back and then watched as he died has been found guilty of murder.

Prosecutors said Christine Rawle had stabbed Ian Rawle, 72, after a row at their remote bungalow in Devon in August 2022.

The prosecution said she plunged the knife into his back as he was pushing a wheelbarrow – and then walked off as Mr Rawle pleaded with her to pull it out.

He is said to have collapsed after following her for about 100 yards with the weapon still in his body.

A forensic psychiatrist previously told Exeter Crown Court that Mrs Rawle, a horse trainer, was clinically depressed and suffering from a personality disorder at the time.

The jury also heard claims that Mr Rawle had been an abusive and controlling husband.

In footage released by Devon and Cornwall Police showing Rawle being arrested, she is heard in the back of the police van saying: “He was so cruel.”

She continues: “How can you love someone. How can you do everything for someone and they are so nasty to you.”

Later in the footage Rawle is heard saying: “He will come and get me and he will kill me.”

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Prosecutors compared the couple to the bickering characters from Roald Dahl’s The Twits and said they would often slap and push each other.

Barrister Sean Brunton KC said police had visited the couple several times over the years and that Mrs Rawle had allegedly stabbed her husband twice before – once with a knife and another time with a fork.

A witness said Mrs Rawle would brag about putting Viagra in her husband’s tea or chilli powder in his underpants – and about occasionally wiping her backside with his ties, out of spite or as a joke.

The killing is said to have taken place in a “fit of temper” at the couple’s £800,000 home near Braunton after they argued about selling a piece of land.

Rawle did not give evidence during the trial, but her legal team insisted she was acting in self-defence.

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