US woman jailed for Jägermeister murder

A woman in the US has proven the old saying “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” after she was jailed for 20 years for killing her ex-boyfriend with poisoned Jägermeister.

Janjira Jeffrey Smith from Washington sent her former lover Roger Lewis a bottle of Jägermeister, which she had spiked with the insecticide methomyl, after he told her he had met another woman on holiday in 2006.

The court heard how Smith, 56, had tried to win her former partner back, but was unsuccessful and subsequently plotted her revenge.

Smith phoned Lewis’ new girlfriend, Thanyarat Sengphrachanh, and explained that he liked to have a drink before dinner and so she would send a bottle to the couple’s home as a present.

According to ABC News Lewis subsequently drank a full shot of the poisoned liqueur, while Sengphrachanh drank half a shot glass.

The pair were later discovered in their home by a friend and Lewis was pronounced dead at the scene. Sengphrachanh suffered a stroke as a result of drinking the poison and she has since recovered.

Smith spent two years on the run before being arrested in London in 2008 and extradited to the US in 2011. She pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and second-degree assault and was sentenced to a maximum of 20 years’ jail.