David Hunter freed from Cyprus prison after serving sentence for killing wife

David Hunter was sentenced to two years in prison but has been released from custody due to time already served.

David Hunter outside Paphos District Court in Cyprus after he was released from custody (Victoria Jones/PA) (PA Wire)

Retired British miner David Hunter has been released from custody due to time already served after a Cypriot judge sentenced him to two years in prison for the manslaughter of his seriously ill wife.

Hunter, 76, admitted suffocating Janice, his wife of 52 years, at their home on the island, after she “begged him” to end her life as she suffered from blood cancer.

On Monday, judges at Paphos District Court imposed a two-year jail sentence on Hunter, who has already spent 19 months in custody.

His legal team said he had been released shortly after the sentencing when Cypriot prison authorities had officially calculated his release date.

Asked by reporters outside how he was feeling, a visibly emotional Hunter said: “I can’t describe it. I’m sorry. I wish I could, I wish I could find words to describe it but I can’t.

“When you’re under pressure for two years, not knowing which way it’s going to go.”

His daughter Lesley Cawthorne, who launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for his defence, spoke to him on the phone shortly after the sentencing.

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

Judges previously found Hunter not guilty of the more serious charge of premeditated murder.

His legal team had argued he should be given a suspended sentence, in a case which is a legal first in the country.

In mitigation last week, his defence lawyer, Ritsa Pekri, said his motive was to “liberate his wife from all that she was going through due to her health conditions”.

The court heard it was Mrs Hunter’s “wish” to die and that her husband “had only feelings of love for her”.

Hunter, from Ashington, Northumberland, told his trial, which lasted for more than a year, that his wife “cried and begged” him to end her life.

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.

He showed the court how he held his hands over his wife’s mouth and nose and said he eventually decided to grant her wish after she became “hysterical”.

The court heard he then tried to kill himself by taking an overdose, but medics arrived in time to save him.