British man, 74, charged with murder for killing wife 'to spare her the pain of terminal cancer'

A British man who smothered his ailing wife before trying to take his own life for allegedly sparing her the pain of a terminal illness, has today denied murder at a court in Cyprus.

David Hunter, 74, a retired miner living on the Mediterranean island with his late wife Jane, 56, faces life imprisonment in a Cyprus jail if convicted of murder, fanning public and political debate over mercy killings, or else euthanasia, on the largely Christian-Orthodox island.

Represented by a panel of British lawyers, Hunter appeared before a Cyprus court early Thursday having been released from a psychiatric facility on the island. 

Local judicial officials one month ago ordered him to be treated at the facility for trying to overdose on sleeping pills soon after confessing to suffocating his wife with his bare hands.

‘[Janice] She was suffering from blood cancer and was in a great deal of pain and her quality of life had drastically diminished,’ said Michael Polak of the British-based Justice Abroad legal group said ahead of the trial on Thursday.

‘This was a terminal disease that had taken the life of her sister and the pain she was under was getting worse and worse,’ he said.

‘We will do everything possible to bring David home to the United Kingdom as soon as possible so that he can be with his family at this difficult time.’

It remained unclear whether Hunter’s bid to terminate his wife’s life was premediated or whether he had his wife’s consent.

David Hunter, 74, a retired miner living on the Mediterranean island with his late wife Janice of 56 years, faces up to life imprisonment at a Cyprus jail if convicted of murder, fanning public and political debate over mercy killings, or else euthanasia

Even so, euthanasia – a contentious issue of debate in Cyprus’ society and politics for decades – is illegal on the island where the couple had been residing for years.  

In his initial deposition in late December, the husband claimed his wife wanted to die peacefully following her terminal diagnosis. 

Police were alerted to the fatal incident by Interpol after Hunter sent off an email to his brother in the UK, saying he had killed his wife to end her suffering. 

He also warned his brother of his attempt to commit suicide.

A criminal investigation launched since then has found that marks on the woman’s face showed she had been suffocated, her mouth and nose blocked by the hand of her killer.

Police who scrambled to the couple’s home found the ailing wife dead, seated in an armchair, in their cottage. The husband was said to be ‘clinging on to life, nearby,’ according to local media.

The pair lived in the village of Tremithousa, around a mile and a half north of the holiday resort city of Paphos. 

Bernard McKever, 77 and a former colleague of the retired miner, said of the British couple: ‘They were a lovely couple, very nice and decent people, so this is a big shock.’

David and Janice lived together in the village of Tremithousa (pictured), near Paphos, Cyprus

Since the mercy killing, a parliamentary committee has commenced debate on euthanasia for terminally-ill patients on Cyprus – a move which the island’s powerful Orthodox Church considers a grave sin, on a par with suicide and murder.

The Church, said a local prelate recently, ‘ascribes life to God, not man.’

‘When someone’s life becomes insufferable, that person can ask God to take his or her life,’ he said. 

‘Under no circumstance can individuals decide on their own if they should live or not.’

Hunter’s trial will commence on April 18.

‘We will be writing to the Cypriot Attorney General asking for him to consider an alternative charge of assisting suicide in this case,’ Polak said.

‘At a time when the Parliament of Cyprus is discussing the legalisation of euthanasia and given the circumstances, in this case, we will be submitting that assisting suicide would be a much more appropriate charge than murder which carries a mandatory life sentence.’

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