Convict cleared of ex-wife stabbings
AN ESCAPED convict accused of stabbing his ex-wife after walking out of an open prison has been cleared.
William Bewley, 49, was said to have attacked Karen Waide, of Barking, twice during his decade on the run after threatening to kill her if she got a divorce.
Bewley absconded from minimum security HMP Leyhill in Gloucestershire on March 5, 2001.
Prosecutors claimed Bewley first struck on New Year’s Eve 2004 by plunging a blade into Miss Waide’s left shoulder as she put out rubbish.
He was also accused of stabbing Miss Waide a second time outside her flat in Barking on May 19 2007.
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But jurors at Snaresbrook Crown Court took just 15 minutes to unanimously clear Bewley of both alleged attacks after a seven-day trial.
Bewley opted not to give evidence at the trial but his former cell mate David Richardson gave him an alibi for the first attack.
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The accused was unable to provide an alibi to police for the alleged knifing in 2007 but said he had been in Kent.
Bewley, of Deal, Kent, was cleared of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
He had earlier admitted a charge of escaping lawful custody and will be sentenced in February next year.
