A British pensioner is set to plead guilty to the manslaughter of his terminally ill wife in Cyprus as the murder charge he faced is “no longer on the table”, his lawyer has said.
David Hunter has been on trial over the death of 75-year-old Janice Hunter on the island in December 2021.
The former miner from Northumberland admits killing Mrs Hunter but his legal team have argued it was an assisted suicide, not murder.
Mrs Hunter, who had terminal blood cancer, was suffocated by her husband who then tried to end his own life by taking an overdose.
A trial at Paphos District Court was postponed last month after Mr Hunter’s lawyers asked for the murder charge against him to be reduced to manslaughter.
A previous request for a charge of assisted suicide was rejected by the Cypriot attorney general.
At a hearing on Friday, the prosecution and defence announced they had agreed facts in the case and Mr Hunter will enter a guilty plea to manslaughter on 5 December, according to Justice Abroad, which is representing the Briton.
Image: Lawyers for Mr Hunter asked for a murder charge to be reduced to manslaughter. Pic: Lesley Cawthorne
Michael Polak, director of Justice Abroad, said: “We are very pleased that the murder charge is no longer on the table as our objective all along has been to get David out of prison and back home as soon as possible.
“At the next hearing David’s strong mitigation, such as his good character and long and loving relationship with his wife, will be put before the court.
“We hope given the particular facts of this case, and case law in similar cases from around the world, that the eventual sentence is one that the court could consider suspending.”
Mr Polak said he expected sentencing to take place before Christmas and that if Mr Hunter receives a suspended sentence, the Briton will be allowed to return to the UK.
Image: Janice and David Hunter pictured on their wedding day. Pic: Lesley Cawthorne
Speaking before the hearing, the Hunters’ daughter Lesley Cawthorne told Sky News: “It’s making the best – a poor best – of a very bad situation.
“If it’s a murder charge and he’s found guilty, it’s a mandatory life sentence. There’s no wriggle room there. There’s no room for leniency.
“With a manslaughter charge, there is the potential… for them to be more lenient.”
Mrs Cawthorne has said her father insists his wife made clear that she “wanted it to end” because she did not want a “long, protracted death”.
Image: Lesley Cawthorne (L) pictured with her parents at Italy’s Lake Garda in 1988. Pic: Lesley Cawthorne
She said Mr Hunter was “haunted” by memories of her mother “screaming in pain” during her battle with cancer and a catalogue of other health problems.
Mr and Mrs Hunter, who had been together for 56 years and were teenage sweethearts, had moved to Cyprus 20 years ago after their retirement.
Following his arrest, Mrs Cawthorne said her father had been held in a prison cell with up to 11 other men.
Euthanasia is illegal in Cyprus, although the country’s parliament has begun debating changes to the law.
Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.
While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.
All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.
The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.
Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.
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Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.
The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.
And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.
Image: US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters
Trump holds trade deal talks – reports
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indianand Israelirepresentatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.
The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.
Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.
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China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.
Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.
Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.
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Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump
He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’
“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”
Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.
The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.
The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.
The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.
The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.
Image: Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP
Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.
The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.
Image: The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP
After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.
He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.
The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.
South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.