A woman inflicted a ‘painful and cruel’ death on her husband by chucking boiling water mixed with 3kg of sugar over him as he slept.
Corinna Baines, 59, was married to her elderly husband for 38 years and was his carer at the time of the brutal attack.
She faces life in prison after a jury found her guilty of murder at their home in Neston on the Wirral.
It left Michael Baines, 81, in agony after he suffered severe burns to more than a third of his body.
Immediately after the attack, his wife left the house and went to a neighbour, sobbing, and said: ‘I’ve hurt him, I’ve hurt him really bad. I think I’ve killed him.’
Detective chief inspector Paul Hughes said: ‘To throw boiling water over someone when they are asleep is absolutely horrific.
‘To also mix three bags of sugar with the water showed the determination she had to cause serious harm.
‘The sugar placed into the water makes it vicious. It becomes thicker and stickier and sinks into the skin better.
‘It left Michael in agony and rather than call the emergency services she wasted time by going to a house nine doors away to tell a neighbour, who she wasn’t close to, what she had done.
‘Michael was an elderly man who fought for his life after the attack but sadly in the end he passed away.
‘My thoughts continue to be with his family at this incredibly difficult time.’
Baines and her husband had a son together and both had children from previous relationships.
On July 13 last year, the day before the murder, the couple had a dispute when Baines was shopping with her daughter.
Her husband called and seemed impatient for her to come home, Chester Crown Court was told.
Baines was said to be livid with him but appeared to have calmed down. Yet later she boiled two kettles’ worth of water and added three bags of sugar into a bucket.
She poured the dangerous mix over Mr Baines’ arms and torso and left the house. He suffered 36% burns to his body and was found by police moaning and in extreme pain.
He spent five weeks in hospital but died on August 18.
Baines was initially charged with grievous bodily harm before he died, then charged with murder and she admitted manslaughter.
A jury found her guilty of murder after a five-day trial and she will be sentenced in July.
Jayne Morris of the Crown Prosecution Service Mersey-Cheshire said: ‘The CPS case was that her actions were deliberate and considered.
‘She was clearly upset about the dispute between herself, her daughter and her husband but the evidence demonstrated that she was in control and acted in anger when she poured the lethal mixture over her husband and wanted to extract vengeance.
‘This is a tragic case that has devastated the family of Mr and Mrs Baines and our thoughts remain with them.’
