Man found guilty of killing his wife walks free from prison

David Hunter, 76, was sentenced to two years for the manslaughter of Janice, 74, his spouse of 52 years, who died of asphyxiation at their home near Paphos in December 2021.

But he was released from prison almost immediately, having already served 19 months in custody, and was emotional when he told reporters that he could not find the words to describe his feelings.

Hunter and his Norwich-based daughter, Lesley Cawthorne, both cried in an emotional video call after he was released.

“I feel numb, it doesn’t feel real,” Hunter said.

David Hunter's daughter Lesley Cawthorne (Image: ITV)

“When I spoke to Lesley the first thing I said was, ‘I love you’.”

He added: “We were both crying. She couldn’t talk. She started crying and she couldn’t say a word.”

The pensioner also said a police officer embraced him and told him he would be released following his sentence.

“The policeman hugged me and said, ‘Congratulations David, you’re free, you got the result you deserve.’"

Ms Cawthorne said: “Speaking to my daddy was the most amazing thing. I feel like my heart has been put back together.”

David Hunter and his wife Janice (Image: PA)

She continued: “I thought I’d lost him forever. I cannot believe it. It’s amazing.

“I don’t know what to say. When I see him I’m going to hug him and never, ever let him go.

“I’m going to feed him and make sure he’s eating and I’m going to just hug him so tightly.

“I just didn’t think, after the way the case has gone, that this was possible.”

Ms Cawthorne believes her father will initially stay in Cyprus to be near Mrs Hunter’s grave and “say his goodbyes properly”.

On Tuesday morning, Hunter paid an emotional first visit to his wife's grave.

David Hunter lays flowers at the grave of his wife Janice (Image: PA)

Carrying a bouquet of pink, purple and yellow flowers, the widower immediately knelt down by the grave and appeared to be silently shaking.

Hunter stayed at the site for around half an hour.

Hunter, from Ashington in Northumberland, told his trial that his wife “cried and begged” him to end her life as she suffered from blood cancer.

He broke down in tears as he said he would “never in a million years” have taken Mrs Hunter’s life unless she had asked him to.

Judge Michalis Droussiotis said: “Before us is a unique case of taking human life on the basis of feelings of love, with the aim of relieving the person of their suffering that came due to their illness.”