After being asked for a divorce by his wife, a man attempted to kill her using a home-made electric chair. He has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempted murder.
Andrew Castle, aged 61, reacted with extreme anger towards his wife Margaret, ultimately setting up a metal armchair connected to the mains electricity, inviting her for a discussion in his garage.
He asked his unsuspecting wife, with whom he had spent 18 years, to sit down in the electric chair, planning to render her unconscious by hitting her with a rubber cosh before activating the device.
However, before he could execute his scheme, 61-year-old Margaret managed to rise from the chair, resulting in a violent confrontation during which Andrew struck her multiple times with the cosh.
Margaret managed to escape through a side door, but the struggle continued outside their £200,000 seaside bungalow in Lancashire, England, until a passer-by stepped in and alerted the police.
She received hospital treatment for minor head injuries.
Police found Andrew Castle in the garden attempting suicide with self-inflicted injuries. He confessed to attempted murder and was subsequently sentenced to 10 years in prison. It was also determined that he was suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder and an adjustment disorder.
It is noteworthy that the electric chair has never been utilized in the UK, which abolished capital punishment in the 20th century.
Perhaps the concept was inspired by Russian inventor and part-time serial killer Dmitry K, who killed five individuals while experimenting with his own electric chair. Alternatively, Andrew may have drawn influence from a Lithuanian man who died in 2004 after using his home-made electric chair.
Since the incident, Margaret has moved out of their shared home.
