Manor Park wife cleared of poisoning her cheating husband with arsenic and mercury

A woman from Manor Park has been cleared of poisoning her cheating husband after he told police he took the arsenic himself because he was ashamed of having an affair.

Mussarat Khan, 55, was charged with attempted murder after husband Tariq Khan was left in a coma having suffered mass organ shutdown.

He was finally discharged from hospital a year later but still has “extremely limited” use of his hands and feet, a court heard.

Tests revealed the victim, who is in his 50s, had been poisoned with arsenic and mercury and police discovered a small plastic bottle containing the same compounds in a kitchen cupboard in the family home where the couple have lived for around 20 years.

Prosecutors said Mrs Khan obtained the poison on trips to Pakistan and deliberately slipped it into her husband’s food or drink after discovering he had been seeing another woman.

But Mr Khan told police he had administered the poison himself and his wife’s lawyers applied for the case to be thrown out.

Today at the Old Bailey, Judge Paul Dodgson dismissed the charge against her and she walked free from court.

He said “clearly suspicions exist here”, but added: “A properly directed jury could not conclude on the evidence that has been advanced that she was guilty of this offence.”

Outlining the case in his ruling, the judge said: “The crown’s case is that this defendant, who is Tariq Khan’s wife, whether acting alone, or otherwise, is responsible for the deliberate poisoning of Tariq Khan with a view to kill him.

“The crown suggest she Mrs Khan had a motive for poisoning her husband, that’s undoubtedly correct, but ... all members of the close family would have had that possible motive for harming Mr Khan due to his infidelity over a number of years.

“The evidence suggests any close family member might consider poisoning him to deal with the shame and he himself might be driven by that shame to commit suicide.”