Jilted Husband Built Electric Chair for Wife

British man tried to fry himself after wife escaped
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 7, 2011 2:17 AM CDT
Jilted Husband Built Electric Chair for Wife
Retired retail worker Andrew Castle, 61, was sentenced to 10 years for attempted murder.   (Lancashire Police)

When Andrew Castle's wife told him she wanted a divorce, he asked her to come and talk about it in the garage—where he had built her a special electric chair. The 61-year-old British man hit his wife in the head with a rubber club, intending to knock her unconscious before putting her in the metal armchair and turning on the juice. She fought back and fled outside, where a passer-by intervened when Castle chased her. He has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder, the Guardian reports.

Police say that after his wife escaped, Castle tried to electrocute himself in his own contraption, and then slashed his wrists when it didn't work. "It was a distressing case. He intended to kill his wife and had set plans in place to do this," said an investigator. ''There was an electric cable and a lamp attached to that for electrocution purposes. It is rare for someone to attempt to kill their wife, or anyone, by these means." (More electric chair stories.)

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