A diabetic woman who died in a Midland hotel from a massive insulin overdose was killed by her partner, Birmingham Crown Court was told yesterday.
But Ian Hendley, who has admitted fatally injecting Jennifer Linton, claimed the woman's death was part of a suicide pact and that he had also intended to die.
Hendley (38) from Hayes, Middlesex, has denied murdering Mrs Linton on March 25, 2002.
Robert Juckes, QC, prosecuting, said Hendley and Mrs Linton had booked into a Holiday Inn at Oldbury, West Midlands, giving false details. In the morning Hendley had rung reception to say his wife had died five hours previously.
He said staff at the hotel were taken aback by the apparent lack of concern shown by Hendley
Mrs Linton's naked body was discovered under a quilt in their room and tests revealed she had died from an "enormous" overdose, he said.
He said Mrs Linton would normally take between 34 to 36 units of insulin in 24 hours and the defendant had helped her to inject 750 in under seven hours.
Mr Juckes said Hendley told police of the pact and that each of them had injected the other, but he said it was the prosecution's case that Mrs Linton was not a "willing" partner to suicide.
It was accepted, he said, that she had been experiencing real difficulties, particularly in the relationship between herself and Hendley.
But he said other people said Mrs Linton was a positive person who loved her life and also her two children.
The trial continues.
