Wife Guilty Of Drunken-Row Killing

A woman's facing jail after being found guilty of killing her husband in a car crash during a drunken row.

Caroline Meeking, 45, and her husband Alan, 49, were on their way home to Somerset from a day's drinking in Bridport, Dorset, when they crashed into another vehicle after she grabbed the handbrake.

The jury of six men and six women at Bristol Crown Court took just three hours to find her guilty of killing him.

Meeking showed little emotion in the glass-fronted dock despite sobbing through her evidence.

Members of both sides of the family packed the public gallery, with several crying as the foreman returned the verdict .

Recorder of Bristol Judge Neil Ford QC had warned family members to maintain their dignity.

Meeking, of Park Barn Lane, Ashill, Ilminster, Somerset, denied the single charge of manslaughter.

The case was adjourned for sentencing until January 6 and Meeking was released on conditional bail.

Judge Ford told Meeking:

 ''The fact I am granting you bail is no indication of the sentence that you will receive.

''You must prepare yourself for all options of sentencing ... a custodial sentence may be inevitable in this case.''