David Hunter shares terminally-ill wife's last four words before ending her life
The husband who spent 19 months in custody for killing his terminally ill wife has revealed the last four words she said to him.
David Hunter, 76, was sentenced to two years in prison for the manslaughter of his wife of 52 years, Janice, who had pleaded with him for six weeks to end his suffering - but at the time of sentencing, had already served the time. The retired Northumberland miner was living in Cyprus with Janice, who had blood cancer.
Following his release, David has spoken of the harrowing moment he suffocated his wife to end her pain, before attempting to take his own life with an overdose. He has revealed the final four words his wife said to her before she lay to rest.
David told Janice he loved her just before covering her mouth and nose, as they both sobbed. “She just closed her eyes and said ‘give us a kiss’, and I kissed her on the cheek," he recalled.
David Hunter was freed after being found not guilty of murder (Humphrey Nemar)He told the of the moment after her death: “She looked nothing like my wife. Those are the nightmares I still get, I see her face in those nightmares. And they are always so vivid. There are always lots of faces, all Janice's face, and I turn around and think she is by me — but she's dead.”
Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him
Earlier this year in a Cypriot court, David detailed how he eventually assisted his wife in suicide, through a translator. “For five or six weeks before she died she was asking me to help her, she was asking me more every day,” he said.
“She said, ‘I can’t go on, this isn’t the life for me. We just go to the hospital and stay at home’. She started becoming hysterical, so I told her, ‘Yes, I’m going to help you. I won’t tell you how and when,’” David explained through tears.
David visited Janice's grave for the first time after his release (Humphrey Nemar)David leant over and gripped a kitchen bench with both hands while his wife cried uncontrollably. “I turned to my wife and she was still crying,” David told the court, “The next thing I knew I put my hands here (over her nose and mouth) and when it finished she was a grey colour.”
David was found not guilty of premeditated murder last month, with “no evidence” to suggest it was a pre-planned killing - something David had always denied. He was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 2 years in prison, which he had already completed - meaning he was freed.
David was emotional as he visited the grave (Humphrey Nemar)After his release, David said: “It doesn't feel real. I've just called my daughter Lesley in England and we were both crying so much we couldn't speak. Neither of us could say a word. We just managed, 'I love you.'”
His daughter Lesley Cawthorne told the Mirror: “I thought I’d lost him forever. I cannot believe it. 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.”
David plans to stay in Cyprus so he can stay close to his wife.
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