His increased workload led him to desperation
A top criminal lawyer has been sentenced to six years in prison for attempting to murder his wife in a violent attack apparently brought on by the pressures of work.
The Times (£) reports Iain Farrimond “cracked under the strain” of working for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and ended up repeatedly stabbing his wife in the head and face. The 54-year-old senior prosecutor then stabbed himself in what appeared to be a suicide attempt, and later asked paramedics “what have I done?”
Farrimond, 54, pleaded guilty to attempted murder at Nottingham Crown Court.
Acting for the Crown, Bill Emlyn Jones reportedly told the court Farrimond’s motive for the attack “had been his increasing feeling that he couldn’t cope at work and was worried he’d have to leave his job”.
He continued:
His increased workload and the introduction of the digital case system (by the CPS), which he was struggling to cope with, led him to desperation.
Farrimond was admitted onto the roll in 1987 and spent 23 years as a solicitor with the CPS. He has since been dismissed following the attempted murder in May.
Judge Gregory Dickinson, sentencing the defendant to a custodial sentence, said the offence had been committed while the attacker was “in the grip of severe depressive illness”. He added:
Your intention was to kill your wife and commit suicide. Forgive me, but thank God you failed.
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