'The manipulator who put me through hell': Telford laxative poisoner's wife speaks out

Elizabeth Smith thought she was dying, but her food was actually being spiked with laxatives by her husband David Smith.

He was today beginning a three and a half year sentence for his crime.

Elizabeth said: "He put me through three and a half years of hell so it's fitting that was what he got.

"He put me through so much mental and physical anguish. He got what he deserved. It's fantastic that it's over and I have got my life back.

"I just want to let it all sink in and get my head round everything I've been through."

Smith admitted culpably and recklessly administering laxatives to Elizabeth between March 1, 2012, and July 20, 2015, knowing that they would damage her health so that she "repeatedly suffered illness or injury and required medical treatment".

He admitted the charge when he appeared at Ayr Sheriff Court, Scotland in January, but Sheriff John Montgomery demanded more information about the medical effects of the poisoning.

She said: "It has been a hellish ordeal. I am glad I came to court today so that I could get some closure and move on with my life.

"I thought I was going to collapse at the end. I am emotionally and physically drained. I am happy because I was scared he would walk away free.

"It's an eye for an eye. It's not sunk in.

"He showed no emotion when he got sent down.

"He is cold, emotionless and a manipulator. Maybe now he can think of how he's ruined my life and everyone else's.

"It was really hard for me to come to court but I felt I had to. I wanted to see justice being done."

Beauty therapist Elizabeth, 62, from Ayr, has said she wants everyone to know that Smith is a dangerous liar.

Elizabeth said that when they first met Smith falsely claimed he owned a factory that made top secret components for the Ministry of Defence which he was due to sell in a multi-million pound deal.

He said his first wife was a professional ballerina who died in a car crash – which was also a lie.

After a whirlwind romance in 2012, the pair married in 2015.

But it emerged that he had been secretly poisoning her for the three years they were together.

Elizabeth became so gaunt and unwell that her family thought she was dying.

The pair met when Elizabeth was out clothes shopping in 2012. They exchanged phone numbers and their relationship began.

Elizabeth said her suspicions about him were raised when the bank notified her that thousands were flowing out of her account at £350 at a time – the maximum that could be withdrawn from a cash machine.

She recorded Smith confessing to poisoning her. He then claimed to have cancer and sent her pictures of him with a tube up his nose.