The British expat on trial for killing his terminally ill wife in Cyprus could be freed next week after he was acquitted of murder.
David Hunter, 75, who has spent 19 months caged in a Cypriot jail, was found not guilty of the pre-meditated murder for ending the suffering of his childhood sweetheart Janice, 74.
He was convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter which could see him walk with a suspended sentence. He will learn his fate at Paphos District Court next Friday.
Earlier, it emerged that Mr Hunter has been left so ‘destitute’ he wouldn’t have been able to appeal a guilty verdict if he was convicted of murder.
The spiralling costs of his agonising 19-month trial have cost him his entire savings. It has also left him unable to afford to make phone calls to friends in prison and having to survive off the meagre rations offered up free of charge.
‘It just breaks my heart,’ said his daughter, Lesley Cawthorne, 50. ‘When my mum was still alive he had a home, a car and money in the bank. Now he’s got a carrier bag with his clothes – that’s all he’s got.’
David Hunter, 75, who has spent 19 months caged in a Cypriot jail, was found not guilty of the pre-meditated murder for ending the suffering of his childhood sweetheart Janice, 74
David Hunter, 75, originally from Northumberland, was accused of murdering his wife of 46 years, Janice, at their home in Paphos, in December 2021. He was today found not guilty of her murder, but guilty of manslaughter
A prison van carrying David Hunter arrives at Paphos District Court in Cyprus where he is appearing accused of the pre-meditated murder of his terminally ill wife Janice Hunter
Mr Hunter faces a mandatory life sentence if he is found guilty of pre-meditated murder and will have 10 days to launch an appeal.
But a crowdfunder for his defence is empty and he has run up thousands of pounds of debt fighting the case to date.
Mrs Cawthorne said: ‘I don’t know what we are going to do. He said he wants to appeal, he said, ‘We have to, I can’t spend the rest of my life here.’
‘I honestly don’t know what we are going to do. I don’t know where we are going to get the money from. It’s going to be thousands.’
Mr Hunter had struck up a friendship with British cellmate Owen Williams, 27. But after Mr Williams was released three months ago he has been left locked up with 11 other hardened criminals who don’t speak a word of English.
His only chance to speak is by his phone, but he can now only afford to make occasional calls to his daughter.
She said: ‘He’s got nobody to speak to. He’s not been able to phone people.
‘He’s not allowed to take calls, he has to pay to make them himself. He hasn’t been able to speak to his brother for a while, or his friends Barry and Kevin. He just speaks to me.
‘It’s absolutely devastating.’
David Hunt arrived at a court in Cyprus today where he will learn whether he has been convicted of murdering his terminally ill wife Janice
David Hunter is escorted into the court in Paphos by police officers on Friday
Mr Hunter’s daughter, Lesley Cawthorne, 50, says it ‘breaks her heart’ that her father has been left ‘destitute’ from trial
David Hunter and his wife Janice on their wedding day
Mr Hunter wants to pay his last respects to his wife if he is freed today.
The retired Northumberland miner was forced to treat her for terminal blood cancer at home with injections due to Covid restrictions as she deteriorated in front of his eyes.
In her last days she was crying out in agony 24 hours a day, unable to move from their sofa or take painkillers as she pleaded with him to kill her.
He finally relented and took her life on December 18, 2021. He tried to take a drugs overdose, but authorities arrived, pumped his stomach and put him on trial for premeditated murder.
Mrs Cawthorne said: ‘He wants to see my mum. He wants sit and talk to her. He needs that for his mental health.
‘I think if he was offered to be released but he could not visit her and had to go straight back he would refuse. He just wants to visit my mum.’
