The wife of a Binstead man who slashed her throat with a craft knife, just moments after stabbing the family dog to death, is standing by him – despite his attempts to kill her.
Earlier today (Wednesday) a jury found the case against 60-year-old Michael Lee Orton – on charges of attempted murder and causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal – proven following a 3-day fact finding hearing at Salisbury Crown Court. It took the jury just 1 hour 20 minutes to unanimously come to a conclusion.
Usually, a trial would determine a guilty or not guilty verdict but it was decided at an earlier hearing that Orton was unfit to stand due to suffering a neurological defect.
Michael – more commonly known as Lee – is now wheelchair-bound and unable to look after himself after suffering a stroke as a result of him slashing his own throat inside the home he shares with his wife, Helen, on Newnham Road in Binstead.
It was on 20th June last year that Orton suddenly turned on his wife of 33 years and their Akita dog, Kora, as previously reported by Island Echo. Shockingly, the pair have this week returned home to live together in the same house where the attempted murder took place just 10 months ago.
The trial heard this week that at 11:06 on the morning of 20th June, Helen Orton ran from her house wearing a white frilly top – which was rapidly changing to bright red as blood poured from multiple slash wounds inflicted by her husband – a well-known local plumber and table tennis player.
She flagged down a Morrisons delivery van which was being driven past her home by Mr Ryan Beere. As he pulled over to help her, he crashed into another vehicle. Mrs Orton repeatedly pulled on the van’s door handle as he parked up and moments later, Mr Beere flagged down a Jewson lorry driver for further assistance as he called 999.
Emergency services arrived at the scene a short time before Armed police officers – 1 carrying a rifle and the other carrying a less-lethal baton gun – made their way into the property. Orton didn’t open the front door as ordered so officers made their way to the back of the property.
In the garden, they found an Akita named Kora, the family dog, with a large knife wound to the neck. She was, at that time, unconscious but breathing.
As they entered the back door of the property, hundreds of droplets of blood were found across the kitchen floor and a basin in a downstairs bathroom was covered in splatter. The court heard Orton had hit an artery in his neck with a kitchen knife.
The officers pointed their firearms upstairs – to a converted attic which was the couple’s living room – and shouted “armed police”. Mr Orton emerged at the top of the stairs holding a kitchen knife. “Drop the f**king knife”, the officers shouted towards him. Moments later, he collapsed to the floor.
He was handcuffed before officers started life-saving first aid ahead of paramedics’ arrival. Mr Orton had sliced an artery and suffered ‘catastrophic blood loss’, bleeding out on the floor of his marital home. He required a blood transfusion at hospital, and it was later apparent that he had suffered a right-sided stroke – which resulted in a loss of mental capacity.
Lee Orton spent some 4 months in hospital before being released and put before the Magistrates Court.
Mrs Orton suffered multiple knife wounds in the attack, including a large slash wound to her throat, a deep slash wound to her jaw described as being ‘well into subcutaneous fat’, several less serious wounds to her head and face and bruising to her back.
Despite this, Helen Orton has stood by her husband since the incident, visiting him in hospital daily and withdrawing a statement she provided to the police investigating the attack. She went to collect her husband from prison when he was released on bail on Monday morning, moments before the fact-finding hearing began. They returned home to the Isle of Wight, together, yesterday (Tuesday).
Lee’s apparent love for Helen was made clear when the jury in this week’s trial heard that Police discovered a suicide note hidden behind a bedside table. It read:
“My wonderful wife. My only true love of my life. I’m so sorry it’s come to this but I couldn’t see a way out!!!
“And I’m in so much pain with my side must be the big C I think. Sorry again for failing you and us as you are left with all this.
“I’ll love you always and I hope one day you understand it was my only choise (sic) love you.”
Addressing the jury, Barrister Tim Devlin, prosecuting, said:
“Something was very wrong in Lee Orton’s life on 20 June last year. He’d written a suicide note. There was no evidence that he’d seen anyone about this cancer, or the Big C, he thought he might have. He was clearly in some strange mind at the time.
“He loved his wife, and he presumably loved his dog, the dog’s never harmed anyone.
“There’s no coincidence the dog has a slash to the neck, Mrs Orton has a slash to the neck and then Mr Orton slashes his own neck. It’s a plan to end it all and take the wife and dog out as well. You don’t need to decide why he did it, just if he did do it.
“It’s a sad story, you’ve heard that he’s been found unfit to stand trial and that’s why we’re having this hearing.”
But Jodie Mittell, defending, said that the Crown Prosecution Service had provided no DNA evidence linking him to the knives used in the attack, or even the blood splatter – as police did not carry out those enquiries. She posed the question to the jury: “How do you rule out that Mrs Orton didn’t harm the dog? How do you know Mrs Orton didn’t inflict her own injuries?”.
The jury also heard that a police officer attempted to save the dog Kora’s life, dressing her neck wound as she struggled for breath and arranging for an emergency vet to prepare for surgery. But as she was carried towards the police van ahead of a blue light run to the practice, she passed away – around 45 minutes after being stabbed.
The jury did not hear about Mrs Orton’s retracted statement or what she told the drivers she flagged down – when she reportedly shouted: “My husband’s trying to kill me”. Nor did they hear that Orton said to his wife “Why don’t you die” whilst attacking her.
Michael Lee Orton will appear at the Isle of Wight Crown Court on 19th May. It is then that it will be determined whether or not he will be handed a community supervision order or an absolute discharge.
Judge Timothy Mousley KC has stated that Lee Orton will not face a hospital order because court experts have confirmed he does not require mental health treatment.
Additional reporting by Daniel Jae Webb/SWNS
Can’t believe she is still standing by this evil disgusting man, if it was me and he killed my dog I would be the one standing trial for killing him!!
Good Job it isn’t any of your business
are you a nutter as well then
Well said Heather,bur join the queue,i want some fun first,he is a total waste of space
Come down to my shop, I’ll happily pass on a message!
Where’s your shop I’ll happily have a chat with you
You sound like an orc.
Our lives are very complicated, what ever these two’s problems are, it’s very sad the poor dog has been forced to be part of it….
Evil monster! That terrified dog died in abject agony and this mentalist woman is standing by this sack of excrement…
Well said Ciara,i totally agree with you
So killing a dog is a graver crime than trying to kill a woman? And for the victim to forgive is madness?
Ask the freak responsible and play amateur psychology games with him…bet you’d have loads to talk about…dogs perhaps?..et…al…
ye it is in this country..
This will end very badly if she stays with him.
Good.
As long as another innocent animal doesn’t have to suffer in agony these two
twats can stab eachother to death and good riddance.
Waste of air. Waste of space. Waste of a poor dog who had the misfortune to end up with scum.
Her choice. But waste no more money on this matter.
This is such a sad story.
The poor dog struggling to breath.
But we’ll done to his wife it must be hard to stand by the man you love after this. But mental health issues can happen to anyone. It’s not always the person’s real intention to hurt anyone
So in your eyes, anyone can do anything and just say their mind wasn’t right.
End of Police, jails courts and CIVILISED life for everyone then
I think YOU need to adjust your thinking.
Didn’t have proper mental issues, he just thought he had cancer. Would have helped if he actually seeked medical advice before committing these senseless attacks and killing an innocent pet. The wife must be fully aware of what she is undertaking and it is her choice, but I hope they never get another pet. Many cancers are treatable, why do people fear it so much it is becoming much more common these days.
Doctors said he doesn’t have a mental illness
Anyone who hurts any animal don’t deserve oxygen he is a vile creature and a coward
what a bunch of w**kers! this sort of thing can happen to anyone of you! any keyboard warriors want to chat about it come see me
You are correct. One can only hope none of these “people” suffer a severe mental episode. Of course they all live a totally perfect lives…..
The artical clearly says that doctors have determined that he does not have mental illness
“this sort of thing can happen to anyone of you”…. What, killing your dog & slashing your wife’s throat?
it obviously happens all the time,..??
a lot of people have mental health issues, but don’t go doing that sort of stuff…
No,..it takes a special kind of sicko, to do that , even when having a ‘mental health issue’
but to treat him as if nothing happened,..??
They say that Love is Blind, but I didn’t realise it had a Death Wish as well
Poor dog why hurt him?? He must have suffered right until his last breath how disgusting and totally unforgivable! How the wife can stand by him I don’t understand!
Hang him! How could you kill a dog!
because of mental health mOron
Read the report again it has been determined by doctors that he does not have a mental illness. He does not have any excuses
There’s mental health and then there’s just cruelty… “mOron”
It even says in the article that he don’t have mental health issues, maybe read the actual article before commenting and defending a monster
“Knowledge” bahahaha oh the irony
it says in the article that he is not in need of mental health treatment, just because he was “feeling down” does not give him a get out of jail free card of stabbing a poor dog to death and attempting to kill his wife. How you can sympathise and defend this creature goes beyond me
And he will soon be walking the streets Near you
This was a horrific, tragic incident. What I don’t get, is why the police did not gather the evidence needed from what could have been a potential murder scene. Surely DNA evidence is collected as standard proceedure from assualt incidents.
Because the wife made a statement saying he tried to kill her but months later withdrew it. He wasn’t tried because after the attempted murder and suicide he had a stroke and it was determined that the stroke caused him to lack capacity to be tried, doctors also decided that he couldn’t be sent to a mental hospital because he wasn’t mentally ill
I agree, it doesn’t sound like they did their job properly at all does it? And shouting out fxxxxxg too?
It’s all bizarre and yes, a poor dog lost its life because a very selfish man thought he had cancer? Why take everyone out with you? Look how it turned out, very badly. All scared fur life and he’s had a stroke she’s probably going to hate him for it and the dogs dead. Great, at least move to a different house I’d say.
It’s the dog i feel sorry for!
Defence lawyer: how do you know it wasn’t the dog who stabbed both the defendant and his wife and then herself? Honestly, these numpties will say anything to get their clients off the hook. This man could be dangerous and it doesn’t need a psychiatrist to diagnose he has serious mental health issues.
Maybe she’s standing by him and taken him back for revenge, I mean looking at him now.. Wally is right think it could end badly.
So sad. Lee and Helen looked after my dog, Olly, when I first moved down to the Island. Both lovely people. Somethings gone horribly wrong. Can’t believe he did that. Hope he gets the help he needs.
What a farce by the judiciary and police Too busy with their high heels.
Since when did a conviction for attempted murder end up with no prison sentence.?
Looked fine to me the other day as he walked out of Costa.
at least he’s buggered up bet he don’t go to jail but state will have to look after him.. .great.