A Croxteth father was caught on CCTV urinating into water bottles and cups which his terminally ill wife later drank from. Keith Foster's actions formed part of a campaign of domestic abuse against his wife, which also saw him accuse her of having an affair with a priest.
The sunbed business owner was said to have "lost the plot" after turning to drink and drugs following his wife's cancer diagnosis, having apparently become infuriated by her including her children in her will. While a judge told him that he "should be utterly ashamed", the pensioner was ultimately spared prison after pledging to avoid "going back to mad ways".
Campaign of abuse detailed in court
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Tuesday that Foster, of Lindisfarne Drive in Croxteth, and his partner, who the ECHO has chosen not to name, first entered a relationship in 2004 before becoming wed five years later in 2009. But their marriage was said to have "issues and problems", with some relating to the couple's business and the 66-year-old defendant's behaviour having "deteriorated" over time and "caused her concern".
David Polglase, prosecuting, described how the victim was then diagnosed with stage four breast cancer in November 2023 and began undergoing chemotherapy before her brother-in-law died in August 2024. In spite of this, between January 2024 and January 2025, Foster subjected her to a catalogue of controlling and abusive conduct, including making "degrading comments", locking her out of their home, being "physically intimidating" and threatening to harm her elderly parents.
Mr Polglase said: "After that bereavement, the defendant was angered by the fact that [the victim's] will, which she says the defendant found on going through her belongings, left items and the house to three of the children and a portion of her business to him. The defendant was angered by having to share the business with her eldest two daughters. That led to him saying he would attack her parents' house, that he had sorted a black Ford Focus to do so. She describes being terrified and genuinely fearful that the defendant would try to harm her family."
CCTV captures sickening actions
The victim initiated divorce proceedings around August 2024 as a result, with both continuing to live in the same house but "staying apart as much as possible". This was said to have led to a "hostile environment" in the home, with Foster having been a "heavy drinker who would make horrible comments in drink" and "use his stature to intimidate her, standing over her and being in her face" as well as punching walls.
After "accusing her of having an affair with a priest who she had hugged after a family event", he went on to make "particularly unpleasant" remarks. This was accompanied by frequent insults including "slut, slag and gold digger". Foster meanwhile locked her and her eldest daughter out of the property when they returned from a family party on Halloween and after she had attended a concert with a friend "because she had not answered her phone due to a lack of signal". She was forced to "wait a long time to be let in" when she needed to use the toilet. He was also said to have "locked her out in the rain" when she arrived home from a trip to London, which he did not want her to take.
Suspicions over Foster's behaviour led his step-daughter to set up a CCTV system in her bedroom, with her mum having then done likewise in her own room, the living room and the kitchen. This came after the former discovered that he had "mixed a bottle of water with what she suspected was urine or cleaning fluid", having left her "feeling nauseous" when she had taken a drink from this vessel. With his step-daughter also having fallen ill after drinking a coffee which Foster had made for her, the cameras then caught him "urinating into crockery in the kitchen", with three further clips capturing him filling bottles in her room with a yellow liquid. Mr Polglase added of the videos: "He is clearly unaware or does not care that he is being videoed."
Wife's health endangered
This led to police being called to the family home on the morning of January 26 last year, with Foster having denied his crimes after being arrested and taken into custody at Copy Lane Police Station. Mr Polglase said of a statement written to the court by his now ex-wife: "She says that, when she had no immunity, her health was endangered by the defendant's behaviour. He continued to escalate his behaviour to harm her and asks herself what his ultimate intention was. She is concerned that, whilst her cancer has progressed and she cannot blame any person for it, the detrimental impact of the defendant's behaviour has continued to place a strain on her body when she needed stability and support."
Her daughter, a paramedic, meanwhile detailed in her statement how she had "lived with the defendant from a young age", with Mr Polglase telling the court: "She was frightened about how far the defendant's behaviour had gone and reinforced feelings of having to protect herself at home. She described that as degrading behaviour. She saw the effect on her mum and says that witnessing controlling and manipulative behaviour towards her mum while she was unwell was distressing for her. Her mum should have felt safe and supported. She has felt anxious about encountering the defendant in public, and the impact on her has become more significant since she herself has become a mum. She tries to move forward with her life."
Defendant 'lost the plot'
Foster has a total of 10 previous convictions for 17 offences, including robbery as a youth in 1978 and being jailed for wounding with intent in 1991. However, he has no appearances since a drink driving matter in 2007. Carmel Wilde, defending, said on his behalf: "The defendant has expressed remorse for his offending behaviour and taken responsibility for his actions and quite rightly described his behaviour as abhorrent. It is disgusting behaviour. It is sneaky. The defendant should be, and is, ashamed of himself.
"It would be three years in January coming since the start of the indictment period. This is, in my submission, a very sad situation, more so for the children involved. They have been in a relationship for over 20 years and married. There may well have been some happy times. Quite rightly, the defendant has said, putting it mildly, that he lost plot. He did not deal very well with the diagnosis of his wife's cancer. He turned to alcohol as a means of self management when he should have been supporting his wife through a dreadful time for her. He further admits that he was using cocaine and drinking. That is not an excuse for such behaviour, but it is a contributing factor. He has been cooperating with the community mental health team, with counselling and attending, of his own volition, drug and alcohol support, in his words, not to go back to his mad ways."
She added: "He is no longer using drugs and drinking alcohol socially, in a responsible way. There has not been any offending since that time. The defendant, with his son, is trying to get their business back up running, rebuilding the sunbed business and repairing a flat so that they can both live there. They are currently living with the defendant's 93-year-old mother, who is unable to leave the flat. She has had cancer and a heart attack and can only go out of the house when helped by the defendant. The defendant, now, is earning. He has pension credits of £523 a month and is starting try make some profits of around £400 a week on the sunbeds."
Judge: 'You should be utterly ashamed'
Foster admitted controlling and coercive behaviour and two counts of administering a noxious substance with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy. Wearing a shirt and tie in the dock with a pair of glasses perched on his head, he was handed a three-year imprisonment suspended for 18 months with a probation requirement and a building choices programme.
Sentencing, Judge Robert Trevor-Jones said: "This, of course, happened at the closing period of what had been a very long standing relationship, something in the order of 20 years. Clearly, there will have been many, many happy times. But, as can so often happen, there can be strains which develop and issues which arise. Certainly, as far as this case is concerned, one of the elements here which appeared to have caused you to distance yourself from your wife was her diagnosis of stage four cancer. She was receiving chemotherapy. Everyone knows what the impact of that treatment is. She also suffered a family bereavement at that time.
"She was immensely vulnerable. Instead of standing by her, you seem to have become estranged from her. That was underlined when you discovered that she had made a will, in which you were only going to partially benefit and her children would be in receipt of the majority of the relevant estate. Quite clearly, that discovery angered you and you became aggrieved. Really, what happened after all of that is that, with grudge, you exacted some sort of revenge to her. You stayed in the same house, the three of you. It was obviously going to be difficult, but not as difficult as you made it. Quite clearly, some part of this is because, at the time, you were drinking heavily and misusing cocaine."
The judge added: "On repeated occasions, you locked her out of the house. All of this prompted [the victim's daughter] to set up a camera and, in turn, so did her mother about the house. What they discovered, quite sickeningly, is you going about the house, urinating in various receptacles, including, specifically, a bottle of water by her bedside. She ingested some of it. Further footage revealed quite how much you had involved yourself in that quite disgusting way. You were behaving in a quite domineering way, all designed to intimidate your former wife. As far as your former wife is concerned, she refers to the consequences of this persistent conduct, which she now realises was directed to intimidate and isolate her. Indeed, [her daughter] likewise uses the expression that she was left to go around the house treading on eggshells, intimidated not only by your treatment of her but more so witnessing, on repeated occasions, your behaviour towards her mother.
"You are currently living with your very elderly mother, who is in ill health, with your son. You intend to renovate a flat and live with him in that flat when you are able to do so. I understand that the divorce has now occurred. You have transferred what interest you had in the family home to your former wife. What is clearly of positive effect is how you have discontinued your abuse of cocaine. It seems, likewise, that also goes for alcohol. You have turned yourself around, in many ways, since this time. You have undergone counselling. You receive medication for your issues. You have resumed work. You are attending a gym. I also take into account the impact on dependants, were I to impose immediate custody. I have, after some considerable hesitation, decided to suspend the sentence."
Foster was also handed restraining orders banning him from contacting his ex-wife and her daughter for four years, as well as being told to pay court costs of £1,500 at a rate of £400 per month. He replied "thank you judge" before he was allowed to leave the courtroom.
