A woman who slept next to her dead partner’s body for three weeks after he passed away from a heart attack has been jailed.
Sally Smithson, 61, of Clare, near Thame in Oxfordshire, pleaded guilty to one charge of preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body.
Her partner, John Blackwell, 71, died around October 1 last year, but his body wasn’t discovered by police until October 21.
He was last seen on September 19, before the couple’s cleaner was cancelled on a number of occasions, prompting suspicion.
Charles Ward-Jackson, prosecuting, told Oxford Crown Court that Mr Blackwell’s body was in an advanced stage of decomposition when it was found.
The court heard Mr Blackwell suffered from a serious heart condition and that the suspected cause of death was a heart attack.
The barrister said the relationship between Smithson and Mr Blackwell and been ‘turbulent’ and involved ‘drunken arguments and domestic violence‘.
Mr Ward-Jackson said: ‘Police found his body on the bedroom floor.
Sally Smithson, 61, of Clare, near Thame in Oxfordshire, pleaded guilty to one charge of preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body
Charles Ward-Jackson, prosecuting, told Oxford Crown Court (pictured) that Mr Blackwell’s body was in an advanced stage of decomposition when it was found
‘He was flat on his back and naked.
‘He was in an advanced stage of decomposition. There were no signs of injuries.
‘The TV was on and the bed was slept in. The defendant had been sleeping in the bed for three weeks.’
Judge Michael Gledhill KC said: ‘It’s a tragedy to see you in the dock of this court. You led a perfectly honest and sensible life before you first appeared in court in 2018.
‘The relationship was volatile. The deceased appears to have died from natural causes.
‘You must have been sleeping next to his dead body for about three weeks.
‘This was a very grave and serious offence. It was an affront to the standards of public decency.’
Smithson was sentenced to 14 months behind bars on February 20.