Jane Sherratt died in hospital 17 weeks after she was attacked at her home in Spondon, Derby, by her husband Paul (pictured in a police mugshot)
A husband who battered his former deputy head teacher wife to death with a dumbbell after they rowed over a broken tablet computer was today jailed for life.
Jane Sherratt died in hospital 17 weeks after she was attacked at her home in Spondon, Derby.
She had suffered serious head injuries in the ‘frenzied and focussed’ assault.
The 60-year-old’s husband, Paul Sherratt, 57, survived the incident on May 16 this year with self-inflicted knife wounds.
He was arrested after being discharged from hospital and later charged with murder.
Sherratt admitted murder at an earlier hearing and was jailed for life when he re-appeared at Nottingham Crown Court this afternoon.
A post-mortem examination revealed Mrs Sherratt had been hit at least 14 times with the dumbbell.
Sarah Knight, prosecuting, said a police officer had described the scene of the attack as ‘something out of a horror film’.
Miss Knight said there had been problems in the marriage for several years – but Mrs Sherratt had told friends she couldn’t leave her husband of more than three decades because of financial reasons.
The victim had told her GP that she and her husband lived in different parts of the house and were effectively living separate lives.
Sherratt, who didn’t work and who was financially dependent on his wife, said the attack was not pre-meditated but could give no reason for the spontaneous outburst of violence.
The victim, pictured, had told her GP that she and her husband lived in different parts of the house and were effectively living separate lives
The court heard Sherratt delayed several hours before contacting the emergency services – allegedly because he thought his wife was dead before he then heard her moaning
But the court heard they had rowed on the night of the assault after Mrs Sherratt shouted at him when he damaged the camera lens of a newly-purchased Amazon tablet computer.
Miss Knight told the hearing: ‘The defendant said things had started to become difficult between him and his wife over the past three to four years.
‘He said she had suffered a breakdown and received treatment before leaving her job as a deputy head teacher.
‘He said she started to blame everything on him and would constantly have a go at him, telling him she wanted him out of her life, that he didn’t do enough, and people thought he was a waste of space.’
Police and paramedics rushed to the couple’s semi-detached home on January 7 this year after Sherratt dialled 999.
Mrs Sherratt was found naked in a bedroom, and is believed to have been asleep when she was attacked.
Police and paramedics rushed to the couple’s semi-detached home on January 7 this year after Sherratt dialled 999
The court heard Sherratt delayed several hours before contacting the emergency services – allegedly because he thought his wife was dead before he then heard her moaning.
The pair were both taken to hospital but whereas Sherratt survived the knife wounds to his wrists and abdomen, his wife died of her injuries over four months later.
Miss Knight described what Sherratt told police after his arrest about the night of the attack.
She said: ‘The defendant said that a tablet computer had arrived from Amazon about 5pm on the Friday. He had ordered it himself using his wife’s account.
‘He said there was a problem with a camera lens on the tablet and he had damaged it.
‘He had thrown the whole thing in the bin. He said that he must have told her about this and she must have started shouting at him.’
Mrs Sherratt was deputy head teacher at Springfield Primary School, in Spondon, Derby, from 1992 until 2011.
After she died flowers were left at the school gate and the school has planned to create a special area of remembrance for her.
At the time of her death, head of the school David Blackwell said: ‘She will be remembered by a generation of children and parents who will have remembered her time at the school with very fond memories.’
Mrs Sherratt was previously praised in her local community after she stepped in to replace stolen charity cash raised by children in February 2015.
She donated £100 to pay back the children at White House Kids’ Club, who had raised funds for a heart charity.
Sherratt was jailed for life, and told he must serve a minimum of 16 years before he could be considered for release.
Judge Stuart Rafferty said: ‘The court has heard no explanation as to what triggered the rage you must have felt that night when you attacked her.’
He added any argument Sherratt and his wife might have had over the tablet computer in the hours before the ‘frenzied and focussed’ attack ‘paled into insignificance’ compared to what followed, and it was possibly a ‘culmination of events that made you act in that wholly horrific way’.