A woman has been jailed after sleeping beside her husband’s corpse for three weeks.
Her partner, John Blackwell, 71, passed away around October 1, 2025, but his remains weren’t found by police until 21 October.
Sally Smithson, 61, admitted to one count of preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body.
Charles Ward-Jackson, prosecuting, informed Oxford Crown Court that Mr Blackwell’s body was in an advanced state of decomposition.
The court was told Mr Blackwell had suffered from a severe heart condition and that the suspected cause of de@th was a heart attack. The barrister stated the relationship between Smithson and Mr Blackwell had been “turbulent” and involved “drunken arguments and domestic violence”.
The court also heard that Smithson had a number of previous convictions of violence against Mr Blackwell.
Mr Ward-Jackson said: “Police found his body on the bedroom floor. He was flat on his back and n@ked. He was in an advanced stage of decomposition. There were no signs of injuries. The TV was on and the bed was slept in. The defendant had been sleeping in the bed for three weeks.”
Mr Ward-Jackson said the last time Mr Blackwell had been seen alive was on September 19. He told the court the couple’s cleaner had been cancelled numerous times around that period, which caused her to grow suspicious.
Neighbours also saw erratic behaviour from Smithson, who was reported to be seen peering through windows. Text messaqges were also sent from Mr Blackwell’s phone after his d£ath as Smithson attempted to cover up the truth.
She told people that Mr Blackwell had “gone out” or was recovering from a visit to hospital when they asked where he was. It was the couple’s cleaner that called police on October 21, and when officers arrived Smithson told them Mr Blackwell was upstairs and had di£d three weeks earlier.
Peter Du Feu, mitigating, said: “On the weekend it happened, there were two phone calls to the coroner’s office. She said that was her immediate instinct. But then, she put her head in the sand. She is remorseful and has a deep understanding of what happened. She is facing up to this and is very upset indeed.”
Sentencing Smithson to 14 months, Judge Michael Gledhill KC told her: “It’s a tragedy to see you in the dock of this court.
“You led a perfectly honest and sensible life before you first appeared in court in 2018. The relationship was volatile. The deceased appears to have di£d from natural causes. You must have been sleeping next to his de@d body for about three weeks. This was a very grave and serious offence. It was an affront to the standards of public decency.”
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