Who is David Hunter and why did he kill his wife?
- Everything you need to know about David Hunter after he was released from jail
A retired British miner who killed his terminally-ill wife tearfully was released from a Cypriot jail on July 31 after spending 19 months behind bars.
David Hunter, 76, was handed a two-year prison sentence by judges at Paphos District Court for killing his childhood sweetheart Janice, 74.
But who is David Hunter? Why exactly did he choose to kill his wife in the first place?
Read on below for everything you need to know about David Hunter.
David Hunter, 76, was released from a Cypriot jail on July 31 after spending 19 months behind bars for killing his terminally-ill wife
Who is David Hunter?
76-year-old Hunter said that he met his wife when she asked him for a dance at a miners’ hall party in Northumberland.
‘She came up to me and said, ‘You’re sitting in my seat.’ I hadn’t ever seen such a beautiful woman,’ Mr Hunter said, when asked about how the pair met.
The couple would go on to marry in St John’s Church in Ashington, Northumberland in 1969.
Mr and Mrs Hunter had holidayed in Cyprus before buying a property in the country in 1999, which they moved to in 2001 after retiring.
Asked how their marriage was, he said: ‘Perfect.’ He also revealed that he worked seven days a week in the mine to pay for their only child, Lesly, to become the first member of the family to go to university.
Mr Hunter’s daughter – who campaigned tirelessly for his release – said: ‘Speaking to my daddy was the most amazing thing. I feel like my heart has been put back together.’
Why did David Hunter kill his wife?
Mr Hunter’s wife Janice had ‘begged him’ to end her life as she suffered from blood cancer, which meant she was required tom go to the capital Nicosia every week for procedures and injections.
As her condition deteriorated, Mrs Hunter asked to go to Paphos General Hospital because she couldn’t face the journeys, but when Covid hit it was closed and so they kept her injections in their fridge and self-medicated.
She had two 125 euro injections per week but started suffering side effects including diarrhoea, headaches, dizziness and nose bleeds.
Mr Hunter, who married his children sweetheart Janice in 1969, described the couple’s marriage as ‘perfect’
Hunter said he would ‘never in a million years’ have taken his wife’s life unless she had asked him to
Sadly, this did nothing to improve her health, which led to Hunter suffocating her to death in December 2021.
In July 2023, judges cleared Hunter of murder and instead convicted him of the lesser charge of manslaughter, with Judge Michalis Droussiotis accepting he ‘loved his wife and took care of her’.
Hunter said he would ‘never in a million years’ have taken his wife’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’.
An apparent suicide note written by Hunter proved crucial in the British pensioner being dramatically cleared of murder.
A blue notebook and pen were found in his house with a message in it seemingly left for those who would find Mr Hunter and his wife’s bodies.
The apparent suicide note read: ‘My wife is in so much pain. She has asked me to help her, so we did this together.’