Elderly woman made husband live at junkyard

WILMINGTON, Del. - November 2, 2009 -- A jury has convicted an 80-year-old woman of forcing her 82-year-old husband to live in the office of a junkyard, leaving him with a pot for bathing and couch for sleeping.

Shirley M. Wilson represented herself at her three-day trial on elder abuse charges for ending Don Wilson's care at a nursing home and denying him in-home care. A Superior Court jury convicted her Friday.

But she denied prosecutors' statements, saying her husband didn't need round-the-clock care.

A Delaware State Police trooper investigating a report of workplace theft March 27 at Wilson's scrapyard in Wilmington found her husband of 62 years lying in a soiled diaper. He had bedsores and was suffering from dementia.

Prosecutors said Wilson had plenty of assets, but refused to pay for her ailing husband's care.

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Information from: The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal

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