A small village in The Cotswolds was in shock today as details emerged of a grisly murder in the quiet rural backwater, apparently as a result of a local woman suffering from the much publicised premenstrual syndrome, completely losing patience with her husband over a whistling incident.
Mrs Janet Arden, 35, allegedly brutally attacked and dismembered her husband Arthur, a market gardener and lay preacher, on Saturday night after he began whistling along to a catchy pop song on Radio 2.
Police were called after a neighbour complained of loud screams and maniacal cackling coming from an open window of the Arden's semi-detached bungalow in a quiet cul-de-sac.
Det. Inspector Alan Taylor later issued a statement in which he recalled: "it was the worst crime scene I've had to deal with in 25 years as a serving officer.
"There was blood everywhere and dismembered body parts lay strewn all over the house and garden.
"When I questioned Mrs Arden, she claimed that she'd got a bit annoyed with her husband earlier after he'd put a knife in the fork drawer and that the whistling incident had pushed her over the edge.
"She then went on to point out she was only a few days away from the beginning of her menstrual cycle. She then stated that "the irritating little bastard had it coming."
The case grimly mirrors a similar outrage that took place last year in a neighbouring village, when another local woman set fire to her husband's pubic hair and attacked him with a butcher's meat hook for allegedly forgetting to put the rubbish out.
