LEE JONES has had to find the strength to tell his children the mother is a cold blooded murderer.
The woman who read them bedtime stories and tucked them up at night killed their great grandmother.
But Lee, says he may one day forgive Sheila, now serving a life sentence for the terrible crime.
“Never say never,“ he said.
The 41-year-old, known in the sleepy village of Norton Canes, Staffordshire, as a ‘gentle giant’, is slowly coming to terms with the fact that he married a monster: a monster who mounted a frenzied attack on Daisy Myring, the frail pensioner she cared for.
“I would never have thought she was capable of that,“ said Lee. “She was never violent in the home. We argued and she’d slam doors, all couples go through that, but there was never any violence.”
Last May, his 36-year-old wife entered Daisy’s Brownhills home, smashed a stool over her head then rained kicks and punches on the defenceless old lady.
Daisy was discovered softly sobbing on the floor of her Albion Road property, her face contorted by a fist-sized swelling. She also sustained a broken collarbone, dislocated shoulder and fractured rib.
She died hours later from the catalogue of injuries.
Lee winces when he recalls how vulnerable Daisy was.
“She was very independent mentally, but physically she depended on people to do a lot for her,“ he said.
Sheila was one of those people. But behind the facade of a caring relative, fetching and carrying for her infirm grandmother, was a callous thief, systematically syphoning thousands from her account.
Lee, himself initially considered a suspect by police and held in the cells, suffered a breakdown, lost his job at Brock Metals in the village, and is still being treated for depression.
He has had to explain to their sons, aged six and eight, why mum isn’t there.
“They understand as much as they can for their ages,“ he said. “I’ve explained the facts to them, what happened and the reason why their mother is not there. I’ve taken them to see her.“
Lee maintains that his wife of ten years never betrayed her dark secret in the days following the murder. Even he couldn’t see through her elaborate act.
“I didn’t suspect anything,“ he said.
“On the day we were told what happened, she seemed devastated. I was helping a friend out and she came round to tell me. “She certainly never confessed to me. She still hasn’t.
“I wonder now if I ever really knew her; if there was anything else she was hiding from me.“
The reason for the sadistic attack is even harder for Lee to understand.
Sheila was driven by pure greed. She had systematically drained GBP7,000 from her nan’s savings and struck in the dead of night to prevent Daisy, who relied on a pacemaker, from blow ing the whistle. Lee is still trying to find out what happened to that cash.
He maintains he saw none of it.
“The newspaper reports said she bought a new telly,“ he explained. “But she didn’t, I did.
“They said she spent it on holidays, She didn’t.
“I really don’t know what she spent it on. It must’ve been going somewhere. That is one of the many questions only she can answer. I take the children to see her in prison, so it isn’t right to ask those ques tions in front of them.
“One day, when we’re alone, I’ll ask them.”
“At first all I thought was because we were family, they would start with the family,“ said Lee. “They would question us and that would be it.
“But they kept us in custody for four days, then they gave us bail. When we got out, it was an experience we both just wanted to put behind us.
“We didn’t really talk about it. I just remember waiting and waiting for the forensics to come through to clear us both.”
While Lee longed for those results, Sheila dreaded them.
That dread proved her undoing.
Sheila was caught carrying the broken stool she’d smashed against Daisy’s skull. She’d initially flung the weapon, and bloodied clothing, onto wasteground, but, fearing the net was closing, retrieved them.
Police stopped her as she took the incriminating items to a more secure location. “When she was charged, I couldn’t believe it,“ said Lee. “I still can’t. Hopefully, with time, I’ll be able to get my head round it. Things are getting better, the day-to-day things are getting a little easier.”
That’s down to the support he has received from family, friends and his former employers. Lee, who helps out Norton’s Kano martial arts club, is a popular man in the parish.
Friend Jackie Elson, 46, said: “With all this going on, Lee has had to get on with the job of being a good dad.
“Throughout this, he has held his head up high, he has nothing to be ashamed of.
“He is a top man. You can see the stress in his face, but he’s kept the kids stable. I take my hat off to him.“
