Woman who strangled partner of 30 years to death jailed for eight years

By Henry Clare3rd May 2019News EnglandCourts / Justice, Domestic Abuse / Violence, News England, Vulnerable Adults, Yorkshire

A woman who strangled her partner of 30 years to death has been jailed.

Sheila Lockridge, 66, told a police officer “I strangled her, she’s dead”, after carrying out the attack on 70-year-old Dianne Williamson, who is said to have been frail and in poor health at the time.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said the lengthy relationship between the pair “had become frayed” prior to the incident, with the defendant becoming aggressive towards her victim.

The force told how witnesses had said that Miss Williamson had been a “victim of domestic violence”.

The police spokesman said that, following the incident at their home in Lodge Gardens, Gristhorpe, near Filey, North Yorkshire, on the evening of September 2 last year, Lockridge said that her partner had been aggressive towards her.

She is said to have told officers that she had pinned Miss Williamson down in a bid to restrain her at the time of her death.

Lockridge (pictured) was initially charged with murder in relation to the incident, but denied this and instead admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility, a plea which was accepted by prosecutors.

She was jailed for eight years at Leeds Crown Court on Friday, the North Yorkshire Police spokesman said.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Pearson said: “This was a brutal and tragic end to a 30-year relationship in which Dianne Williamson suffered at the hands of Lockridge.

“My thoughts are with Dianne Williamson’s family at this very difficult time.

“No sentence could ever compensate for the loss of their mother and grandmother.”

He added that he hoped the sentence would give some closure to Miss Williamson’s family.

At an earlier hearing, prosecutor Tahir Khan QC told how a witness had described a previous incident in which Lockridge had chased Miss Williamson around the kitchen with a knife, as the victim cried “please don’t kill me”.

On the night of the attack itself, the defendant had drunk between “six to eight pints” of beer, and had also had “two rums”, Mr Khan said.

The prosecution also alleged that Lockridge had taken 14 minutes to phone police following her partner’s death, having phoned other people beforehand.