A retired British factory worker who admitted to strangling his wife a few days after the first national closure of the coronavirus has not been found guilty of murder.
Anthony Williams, 70, told police in Wales that he “literally drowned the light of day” of his 46-year-old wife, Ruth, at his home in Cwmbran on March 28, five days after the closure across the UK that left him “depressed” the Independent reported.
Williams told detectives he killed his 67-year-old wife after “breaking up” during an argument. He had retired from his job as a factory worker 18 months earlier and, according to the report, was not doing well.
“I’m sorry, I just broke up,” he told site agents. “Sorry.”
Williams strangled his wife with a robe cord, according to the Sun, who also noted that the gruesome attack was the first murder reported. Prosecutors said he went to a neighbor’s house after the murder and confessed.
“She’s dead, I killed her. We had an argument and I strangled her,” Williams told an operator. “You have to come immediately.”
Police officers who responded found Ruth Williams on the couple’s porch while she had a set of keys. She was later pronounced dead at a hospital, where doctors found hemorrhages in her eyes, face and mouth, as well as five fractures in her neck, the Sun reported.
During the trial, jurors overheard recordings of Williams insisting to police that his wife’s death “was not a murder,” stating that he “did not want” to kill her.
“I just turned around, it wasn’t me,” Williams told officers, according to the Sun. “It wouldn’t hurt a fly, it wasn’t me, I’m not like that and I don’t know what happened to me.”
A Swansea Crown court jury unanimously ruled Williams out of the murder Monday.
A psychologist said Williams’ anxiety and depression were “increased” by the strict blockade of COVID-19 and affected his ability to control his actions, the Independent reported.
Williams’ former job had been “one of his main coping mechanisms” to his “neurotic disposition,” psychologist Alison Witts told the court.
But a second psychologist told jurors Williams did not have a “psychiatric” defense over the murder, saying he had no history of depression.
“[Williams] he knew what he was doing at the time, “psychologist Damian Gamble told the court.
The couple’s daughter, meanwhile, said she feared her father would be “out of control” starting months earlier, telling her he thought the couple would lose their home despite not having a mortgage and having more than $ 205,000 in savings, the BBC reported.
According to reports, the judge will sentence the father, who had previously pleaded guilty to murder due to diminished liability.