Husband Jailed For Hammer Murder

28 September 2011, 12:13 | Updated: 28 September 2011, 12:54

A husband who attacked his wife with a hammer while she was asleep has been jailed for murdering her.

Colin Adlard, 61, (right) took the hammer from the garden shed at their two bedroomed bungalow in Yardley Hastings, Northamptonshire on Friday 7 January 2011.  He fed their dogs and then attacked his wife Wendy.

Northampton Crown Court heard he hit the 59 year old former nurse at least five times, with three blows to the head.  After the attack, the Tesco worker called the police to their home in Chase Park Road.  He later admitted murdering his wife.

Neighbours of the couple were to tell officers that they heard them arguing four or five times a week.

Mr Adlard's barrister said  "A red mist came over him."

Sentencing him to life, with a minimum term of 16 years, Judge Charles Wide QC said that Adlard's wife of more than thirty years had been "defenceless and asleep."