A wife has been jailed for eight years after stabbing her husband to death in a booze-fuelled row after a Christmas jumper party. Natasha Jex, 32, plunged the eight-inch kitchen knife into husband Neal’s chest after she downed eight pints at a festive party at their local rugby club in December last year.
The couple had been married for seven years – after they got hitched in a dream double wedding along with Natasha’s twin sister Natalie.
But a court heard the marriage was “up and down” – and they argued after the party on December 17 2017.
Prosecutor Mike Jones QC said the couple grabbed each other by the throats before Jex picked up the knife and plunged it into his chest.
She then fled to her mother’s house and asked her to “come quickly” – and Mr Jex was found bleeding profusely on the kitchen floor.
When car part company worker Mr Jex died his wife was arrested on suspicion of murder.
She told police: “I didn’t want to murder him – I just wanted to frighten him.”
Cleaner Jex, of Penywaun, Aberdare, South Wales, admitted manslaughter and was jailed for eight years.
Christopher Quinlan QC, defending, described the case as a tragedy for both Mr Jex’s and the defendant’s families and had torn them apart.
“She left the room and went into the kitchen and didn’t leave as sense would have told her to do. ”
Jailing the mother-of-one for eight years, Judge Keith Thomas said he did not consider the defendant dangerous and was therefore intending to pass a determinate sentence of imprisonment.
“I acknowledge from the outset that no words can properly reflect the sense of loss caused by the premature and violent death of a loved one,’ he said.“Neal Jex was clearly a humorous and well-loved man and his loss is a tragedy. ”
