A Devizes vet who killed her mum on Christmas Day has been jailed for eight years.
Stefania Glowka, 64, was caring for Tamara Glowka, 86, when she snapped – strangling her to death with a belt at her flat in Keepers Road on 25 December 2025.
During a seven-day trial at Bristol Crown Court, jurors were told how Glowka ‘couldn’t go on’, and that she was struggling to cope with looking after her mother.
After killing Tamara, she stabbed herself in the neck and stomach in a bid to take her own life. She was rushed to hospital with serious injuries but survived.
In a police interview in custody, Glowka admitted her actions – telling detectives that she felt unable to continue looking after Tamara, who suffered from various physical and mental health-related issues, and that she “thought it would be nice to die on the same day”.
She was aquitted of murder, and was convicted of manslaughter by diminished responsibility.
Ahead of sentencing, a letter written by Glowka was read out in court: “I had a shining light in my life and I extinguished it. My mother is with me every day. I talk to her and often hear her voice.
“I made myself a pariah outside civilised society and I feel I do not have the right to return to it. I feel very bad that I let her down when she needed me the most.”
Judge Lambert described Glowka as a “dutiful considerate daughter”, stating: “Your mother had no one else in the world but you. You had no one else in the world but your mother.
“You were devoted to one another and loved your mother as much as she loved you. No one could have done more for a parent.”
He jailed her for eight years, of which she must serve two thirds behind bars.
DS Chris Hughes from Wiltshire Police’s Major Crime Investigation Team said: “This is an incredibly sad incident in which an elderly woman has lost her life on Christmas morning.
“I’d like to thank and pay tribute to all the officers who attended this incident, as well as the various staff from our partner agencies.
“It can’t have been easy on a day which revolves around family, but they dealt with this incident with the usual professionalism, care and diligence.”
