Samantha Jones, who faced the death penalty for killing her husband, has returned back to the UK – and has been reportedly spotted wearing a wedding ring.
Jones was convicted of murdering her husband John and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2018.
After a judge ruled that she wasn’t guilty of the murder, Jones was spared the mandatory death penalty and was instead hanged in the Asian country.
The 51-year-old woman was placed in jail for three years in February. She was then released from the rat-infested Pokok Sena cell she had been living in during the summer.
According to The MailOnline, her family paid for her return flight to the UK using assistance from the Foreign Office.
(Image: Collect Unknown)
Photos released by the Mirror show Jones with a ‘ring on her wedding finger’ and driving a Range Rover with a personalist number plate at her three-bedroom home near Yeovil.
The husband and wife of a retired fisherman and former insurance clerk moved from Somerset to Malaysia 17 years back.
While on holiday in Malaysia in 2002, they fell in love. But paradise quickly became hell after John started drinking heavily and physically assaulted her.
(Image: Jon Rowley)
She stabbed the dad-of-two and grandad-of-four in October 2018 after he returned home drunk to their villa.
John, a retired chief fire fighter, sustained a severe knife wound to the chest that punctured him liver.
Jones faced death penalty initially and wept when it was decided that she was not guilty of murder.
Instead, she received a 42-month sentence for “culpable murder”.
(Image: Collect Unknown)
Her lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo said she suffered a broken jaw during one beating by John, and feared he would kill her one day.
Friends claimed that he had banned her from speaking to men and attacked her with a knife in one instance.
Jones claims that Jones punched her in face and kicked her in stomach on the night of her murder.
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
She says John goaded her to stab him and after the knife pierced his chest she ran to a neighbour to call for help, but by the time paramedics arrived, he had bled to death.
She was found guilty for ‘culpable Homicide’. Also known as manslaughter or unlawful killing, this is a crime that does not involve intent to hurt or kill.
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: “Our staff supported a British woman and were in touch with her family during her detention. We worked with local authorities to facilitate her return to the UK once deportation had been approved.”
If you have been affected by issues of domestic violence or coercive control you can call Refuge’s 24-Hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline for free. The number is 0808 2000 247
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