‘Milkshake murder’ woman guilty

A Hong Kong jury has unanimously found American Nancy Kissel guilty of murdering her husband by poisoning his milkshake and beating him to death.

Kissel had admitted manslaughter but pleaded not guilty of killing senior banker Robert Kissel in 2003.

She was sentenced to life in 2008 but a judge ordered a retrial citing procedural flaws.

The case has captivated Hong Kong with its tales of death, wealth, drugs and adultery.

Prosecutors said Kissel gave her 40-year-old husband a strawberry milkshake spiked with sedatives, before cracking his skull several times with a heavy statuette.

She tried to dispose of his body by rolling it up in a carpet and putting it into a storage room at the luxury Parkview apartments complex on Hong Kong island.

Kissel’s defence team had argued she was the victim of a violent husband who abused drugs and alcohol.

She lost an appeal in 2008 based on her claim that she acted in self-defence as her husband was threatening her with a baseball bat.

At that trial, prosecutors argued that she had planned the murder due to her uncontrolled passion for a new lover, a TV repairman in the US.

They alleged Mrs Kissel had stood to gain up to $18m (£11m) in life insurance payouts from her husband’s death.

The lurid story of the collapse of an expatriate marriage has fascinated Hong Kong, inspiring books and a film.