Abused mother Donna Tinker wins murder appeal after stabbing her husband

A mother of three who stabbed her abusive husband with a vegetable knife has been sentenced to seven years for manslaughter after her initial murder conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal. Donna Tinker, aged 31, was originally sentenced to life imprisonment in April 2000 after a jury found her guilty of murdering her husband Richard. She claimed self-defense, stating that her husband held his arm around her neck and threatened her with a hot iron in their kitchen. Tinker stabbed her husband, causing a single blow that punctured his lung, and he died in hospital a week later. Her defense of provocation was not accepted at her trial, despite evidence of injuries she had suffered an hour before the stabbing, including a black eye, broken tooth, and bruised jaw. During her appeal, her nine-year-old daughter Natalie gave evidence via video link, but Lord Justice Kennedy rejected her testimony, citing reasons to question its credibility. The judges quashed her murder conviction because they found the judge's instructions to the jury to be incomplete. Members of Tinker's family embraced each other when the conviction was overturned.