Shrewsbury man's jail term upheld over decapitation suicide bid
A Shrewsbury father of three who was jailed after trying to punish his estranged wife by decapitating himself while she watched has lost an appeal against his sentence.
Darren Raymond O’Callaghan, 52, kidnapped and threatened to stab his wife before making the bizarre and macabre attempt on his own life.
Troubled O’Callaghan man made the suicide attempt in July 2016 but his wife managed to stop him.
Badly injured, he ended up in hospital and was jailed for making a death threat, having a knife and kidnapping at Shrewsbury Crown Court last April.
Considered a “dangerous offender”, he was sentenced to six years and three months in jail, with another three years on extended licence.
O’Callaghan appealed, claiming he had been too harshly punished, but saw his case thrown out by three senior judges this week.
Appeal judge Lady Justice Hallett said O’Callaghan’s wife would have been traumatised if she had witnessed his death.
The pair had parted ways earlier that summer after O’Callaghan, of Gains Avenue, Bicton Heath, assaulted her in an argument.
He was ordered to stay away from her, but bought a device to track her movements and was waiting as she walked to shops on July 30. She agreed to talk to him but he then produced a knife from his car and ordered her to get in.
He drove her to countryside five miles away and tried to bind her hands, but stopped when she pulled them away. When she opened the door to scream for help he threatened to stab her and told her she was going to help him kill himself.
But she ran off, turning soon afterwards to see the car being reversed away.
When police arrived shortly afterwards, O’Callaghan was nowhere to be seen, but called 999 later to get help. He had been badly injured and now has trouble swallowing, but survived.
Rejecting his appeal, Lady Justice Hallett, Mrs Justice Russell and Mr Justice Nicklin said a probation officer had assessed O’Callaghan and found he took little responsibility for what he did.
He was bitter about his conviction and had been assessed as posing a “high risk of harm” to his wife, Lady Justice Hallett continued.
“After assaulting her sufficiently badly to cause actual bodily harm, he planned a bizarre and terrifying suicide attempt that would have caused his wife, had she witnessed it, serious psychological harm,” she said.
“In our judgment, he is a man currently with a problem or problems of a serious kind.
“The facts of the offences were so serious, it is plain that he will require help and treatment over a period of time.”
The sentence was upheld.
