A woman in England stabbed her estranged husband after he told her he had euthanised their rescue dogs, a jury has heard.
The case centred on a moment prosecutors described as an emotional explosion that spiralled out of control.
Claire Bridger, 64, from Taverham near Norwich, was cleared of attempted murder but convicted of wounding with intent. Jurors accepted she did not intend to kill her husband, but ruled her actions still crossed a serious legal line.
The incident happened on July 17, 2025, when Bridger drove to her husband’s home. She later told the court she knew something was wrong the second she arrived.
“You killed my dogs!”
Bridger said she pulled into the driveway and immediately noticed something unsettling. She couldn’t hear their dogs barking, which she described as completely out of character.
When she asked Keith Bridger where the dogs were, he eventually told her he had them “put down” because they were too difficult to care for. The Eastern Daily Press reported the dogs were rescue animals with behavioural issues.
Jurors later heard part of the 999 call made after the stabbing. In it, Bridger could be heard screaming: “You killed my dogs!” according to The Telegraph.
Bridger told the court that hearing those words triggered what she described as a blackout. She said it felt like “an explosion” in her head.
Knife taken from her car
Bridger admitted she stabbed her husband in the chest and abdomen using a knife she had inside her car. The blade, jurors heard, had been bent and was inside a rubbish bag.
“It was like seeing red,” she told the court, adding that she remembered getting out of the car and nothing more.
When questioned by her defence lawyer, Bridger admitted she was responsible for the attack and intended to cause serious harm. She denied, however, intending to kill him.
Marriage breakdown and mounting tension
The court heard the couple had been married for nearly 40 years before separating in April 2025. They had been attending mediation sessions when the incident occurred.
Bridger, a nurse and mother of two, said she had initially been caring for the dogs. She left them with Keith when she went to London to visit her sister and niece for what was meant to be a week.
That visit stretched into several weeks as she struggled emotionally with the breakup. During that time, Keith and their daughters looked after the dogs.
According to testimony, one of the daughters later contacted Bridger and urged her to come home. The court heard the family were struggling to manage the dogs and had discussed euthanasia.
“I thought it was nonsense,” Bridger told jurors. “I thought they just wanted me to come home, I thought they would never put the dogs down, no matter what.”
The moment it all unravelled
When Bridger eventually returned to Norwich, she drove to Keith’s house to drop off belongings for their daughters. Before heading over, she admitted drinking a double gin and tonic.
Keith was standing in the driveway when she arrived. As she prepared to leave, she again noticed the silence.
“I shouted out, ‘Where are the dogs?’” she told jurors. “He didn’t answer me.”
After beeping her horn and shouting again, she said he finally turned and told her: “You know where the dogs are. The vets wrote to you.”
She recalled replying that she had received a text, before he said: “You know what happened to the dogs. The dogs are dead. I had them put down.”
That was the moment she said she lost control.
Verdict and what happens next
Bridger was arrested and charged with attempted murder and wounding with intent. On January 13, the jury rejected the attempted murder charge but convicted her of the lesser offence.
Her defence lawyer told jurors a psychiatric expert believed a combination of alcohol and extreme emotional distress could have caused memory loss during the incident.
Bridger is due to be sentenced on March 20.
