Woman escapes husband's electric chair

London: A husband built a makeshift electric chair in his garage and tried to kill his wife after she asked for a divorce. Andrew Castle, 61, ran a cable from a plug to a metal-framed armchair, then asked his wife Margaret in "for a chat", a court heard.

Once she was sitting down, he tried to knock her out with a rubber cosh, planning to electrocute her with the live wires.

But she managed to wriggle free before 230 volts of mains electricity could pulse through her body, running out screaming.

Castle was arrested after trying to electrocute himself with his own device then attempting to slash his wrists, and yesterday was beginning a 10-year prison sentence after admitting attempted murder.

Neighbours stunned

The macabre execution bid caused amazement among neighbours in the Lancashire town of Knott End-on-Sea, near Fleetwood.

Castle, a former shop worker, and his 61-year-old wife, who used to be a clerk, married 18 years ago in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, before retiring to their £110,000 (Dh647,456) bungalow on the coast.

Neighbours believed the couple, who went on regular walking and cruising holidays together, were happy and content. But Mrs Castle found her husband "domineering and controlling", and she asked him for a divorce last autumn. From that time they were said to have lived separate lives under the same roof.