LONDON, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- A British woman known as "The Black Widow," who hated men to the point of murder, has been sentenced to life in prison, the Times of London said Tuesday.
Dena Thompson, 43, was described as a ruthless killer by the sentencing judge Monday, after jurors reached a verdict in 10 hours of deliberations.
The court determined Thompson murdered Julian Webb on his 31st birthday in 1994 by feeding him poisoned curry and then claiming he had committed suicide.
Detective Chief Inspector Martyn Underhill, of Sussex Police, who led the murder investigation, said he now wants to trace Stoin Costov, a Bulgarian who was her lover in the 1970s but who has disappeared.
"For almost a decade she has targeted men sexually, financially and physically," he said. "The men of Britain can sleep safe tonight knowing she has been taken off the streets."
The jury had not been told the mother of one had also been accused of trying to kill Richard Thompson, her subsequent husband, by attacking him with a baseball bat and carving knife during a bondage sex game.
