Islington carer Joyce Evans spared jail over killing

A grandmother who strangled her terminally ill former partner has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Joyce Evans, 69, killed 66-year-old former soldier Colin Ballinger at her home in New Orleans Walk, Islington, north London, last July.

She was found guilty of manslaughter at a previous hearing at the Old Bailey.

Judge Gerald Gordon said Evans, who has depression, should not have been left to provide the "arduous care" the dying man needed.

Evans, who has served what would be equivalent to a 19-month jail sentence on remand, was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, coupled with three years' supervision.

The judge told her: "You had to provide constant and arduous care in increasingly difficult circumstances.

"With the enormous benefit of hindsight and knowledge, far more active intervention was necessary to get you out of the situation you were in.

"But it has to be said that the main reason that did not happen was that you never really revealed the scale of the problem to others."

The court heard Evans put pressure on Mr Ballinger's neck and put a bag over his head, before telling a neighbour: "I think I've killed Colin. He was getting on my nerves."

Evans, who has arthritis, became Mr Ballinger's sole carer after he was diagnosed with alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver.

She had been reluctantly caring for the former soldier for six months and had considered killing herself before she killed Mr Ballinger, the court heard.

Psychiatrist Dr Piyal Sen told the Old Bailey: "She felt trapped with no way out."

Richard Carey-Hughes QC, for Evans, said: "She was probably the last person in the world to become his carer."

In April, Evans was cleared of murder by a jury but was convicted of manslaughter, which she denied.

Following sentencing, acting Det Insp Jason Prendergast said: "Although terminally ill, Mr Ballinger was denied the chance for his life to come to a natural conclusion.

"This is a tragic case and it illustrates that a so-called 'mercy killing' is not a defence in law, and there is no statute to prevent those that carry out this type of offence from facing a jury."