Lowestoft man jailed for attempting to murder wife
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Suffolk Constabulary
A man who battered his wife over the head with a lump hammer as she was cooking dinner has been jailed.
Stephen Crush, 59, was arrested at his home in Lowestoft, Suffolk, in September after his wife Sarah was taken to hospital in a critical condition.
Mrs Crush remains in hospital and continues to receive treatment.
At Ipswich Crown Court, Crush was jailed for 13-and-a-half years after he admitted attempted murder.
Crush called police at 23:35 BST on 9 September and told the call handler he had attacked his wife at their home in Victoria Road and thought she might have died.
Officers found Mrs Crush in the kitchen with a serious head injury.
She was transported to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, before being transferred to another hospital where she continues to receive treatment.
'Completely defenceless'
In his police interview Crush claimed his actions were due to his own poor mental health and a belief his wife had been poisoning his food.
But these claims were rejected in court as there was no evidence to support them.
The court heard Crush, who had a previous conviction for assaulting his wife in 2007, had sat in his bedroom for several hours after the attack before calling the emergency services.
Det Ch Insp Caroline Millar said the attack was a "horrendous act of violence" and had left Mrs Crush unlikely to ever recover from her injuries.
She said: "Having struck Sarah on the head once with a heavy implement - which is used for construction work - Crush then hit her at least two more times, at which point she would have been vulnerable and completely defenceless."
