Gunned down husband's mistress on Chiswick High Road in 2002

Rena Salmon, the woman who shot dead her husband's mistress in a Chiswick hair salon in 2002, has suffered from a heart attack after being allowed out of prison for a day.

Rena Salmon

The 54-year-old, who is due for release next year, had been allowed a home visit but collapsed on a street in Reading this May according to the Daily Mail. She was then also diagnosed with breast cancer by the doctors treating her heart condition.

Rena Salmon was found guilty of the murder of Lorna Stewart and sentenced to life imprisonment in May 2003. Mrs Salmon shot her husband’s mistress twice in the Equilibrium hair salon on Chiswick High Road the previous September.

Floral tributes outside the shop where the shooting occurred

Mrs Salmon had pleaded not guilty to murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility, however, her defence was unable to convince the jury that her depression after the break down of her marriage was a contributing factor to her actions. After the verdict is was revealed to the jury that Lorna Stewart had been two months pregnant when she was shot. Salmon did not know Lorna was pregnant so it was ruled to be inadmissible as evidence.

Lorna Stewart

She is currently serving her sentence at HMP Askham Grange, York. The Daily Mail quotes an inmate saying that she believed Rena Salmon's anxiety at being released after over a decade of institutionalisation was a factor behind her illness.

August 29, 2015