A 96-year-old man has been given a suspended prison term after admitting killing his dementia-suffering wife, after a court heard she told her devoted husband she no longer wished to live.
Jack Tindall pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 88-year-old Ernestine Tindall on the grounds of diminished responsibility at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday, police said.
Recorder of Nottingham Judge Gregory Dickinson QC sentenced Tindall, of Tuxford Road, Boughton, Nottinghamshire, to 12 months in prison suspended for two years.
Nottinghamshire Police said the couple had been married for 68 years and were “devoted to one another”.
Mrs Tindall had been suffering with vascular dementia and needed round-the-clock care after a stroke in August 2015, according to the force.
She had previously mentioned to her husband and other loved ones that she no longer wished to live, police added.
Frail Mr Tindall had appeared at a previous court hearing in a wheelchair.
He was initially charged with murder, becoming one of the oldest people in the UK to be so charged, after killing his wife at their home in Perlethorpe, near Ollerton, on August 3rd last year.
However, the court accepted his plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Inspector Justine Dakin of Nottinghamshire Police said: “This is a tragic and desperately sad case for all concerned.”
PA