Gosport woman jailed for husband's penthouse stab death
A woman who stabbed her husband to death in their luxury Hampshire penthouse flat after rowing over their buy-to-let empire has been jailed.
Jennifer Parkinson, 66, was cleared of murdering husband Michael, 63, at their home in Rope Quays, Gosport, in 2010, but admitted manslaughter.
She told Winchester Crown Court she never intended to seriously hurt him.
Judge Guy Boney QC called Parkinson "hot tempered and feisty" as he jailed her for three years and eight months.
He said she had used the five-inch kitchen knife to "devastating effect" after she "snapped and lost control" during the drunken row.
He said he accepted her anguish and remorse over her actions but added: "You took your husband's life and ruined what is left of your own."
Mr Boney said the fact Mr Parkinson had forced her to drop the knife but she had deliberately regained possession of it and plunged it into his chest was an aggravating factor.
'Loved each other'
Last month, jurors unanimously found her not guilty of murdering her husband, a retired head teacher originally from Rutland.
Mr Parkinson was stabbed three times at the £330,000 flat in Sanderling Lodge on 22 March 2010.
The trial heard the couple had a drunken row when Mr Parkinson blamed his wife for the pair buying about 20 properties in Rutland, which lost them money.
Parkinson told the court this had upset her as it went back on a promise not to blame each other.
The couple had been losing £4,000 a month due to interest rates and flooding and had to live in a motorhome for a time.
But their financial situation had improved, the court heard, and they began making £2,000 profit a month.
Parkinson told the court the violent row had involved her biting him on the arm and him putting her in a head lock.
She said she had brandished the knife to try to "stop him in his tracks" but did not act out of self-defence.
She told jurors: "We loved each other. I was proud of being his wife of 20 years.
"There was no way I wanted him seriously injured or dead. I will miss him for the rest of my life," she said.