Wife lured hubbie to woods for sex, slit his throat

British woman then ran off to meet a man she met on the Internet

British woman then ran off to meet a man she met on the Internet

A woman lured her husband into woodland after giving him a natural aphrodisiac before slitting his throat and leaving him for dead, then going to pick up another man she had met on the internet, a court heard yesterday.

Joanne Hale (39) gave husband Peter, 43, an aphrodisiac called "horny goat weed", blindfolded him and led him into woods.

The pair kissed, cuddled and "rolled about on the leaves" as part of an apparently "playful game", Bristol crown court heard.

But Hale then straddled her husband as he lay face down and slit his throat with a knife, leaving a 4.5-inch-long wound, before plunging it into his neck and chest several times, it was claimed.

Weeded Out: Joanne Hale (39) gave husband Peter (43) an aphrodisiac called 'horny goat weed', blindfolded him and led him into the woods, where she stabbed him

Hale allegedly abandoned her husband when she was disturbed by a passerby and drove to a nearby railway station to see for the first time a man she met on the Internet.

Police arrested her when she returned to the marital home in Bristol. Hale denies attempted murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The attack allegedly happened on December 27 last year.

The couple, who had been married for nine years, were watching television when Hale suggested her husband take the natural aphrodisiac, also known as "rowdy lamb herb".

Husband says

Peter told the jury, "I think both of us discussed how to prepare it. Jo said it was quite unpalatable and I said I would like a drink with it."

At about 6 pm they left home and walked to Stoke Park in the dark. The husband said, "We went through the kissing gates, then on the cobbled path.
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I felt absolutely fine. Jo didn't like it around there; she believes in spiritual things, the paranormal, and she was getting bad vibes from it. We had a cuddle and a bit of rolling about in the leaves," he said.

"I was happy at that point. There was something involving a stick; I thought it was a playful game. It was a bit odd."

He told the court his memory is "hazy" from this point onwards but he remembers seeing his wife and a man before waking up in hospital.

The Hales had been penpals before they married. But the couple were affected by stress after Peter "totally messed up" his studies for a PhD at the University of the West of England in Bristol.

Horny Goat Weed

Also known as Epimedium, it is a soft green heart-shaped leaf that could hold the key to a new drug for treating erectile dysfunction.

Researchers consider it as a cheaper alternative to Viagra. Its aphrodisiac qualities were discovered when a Chinese goat herder noticed increased sexual activity in his flock after they ate the weed.