OAP made 999 killing confession

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A retired chemist told an emergency services operator that "hopefully, with a bit of luck" he had killed his wife of 52-years, a court has heard.

Edwin Brown, 72, admitted killing Ann, 74, at their home in Badnaban, Sutherland, on 7 May.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard Brown was suspicious his wife had been unfaithful to him 30 years ago.

The Crown accepted his guilty plea to a reduced charge of culpable homicide. Sentence was deferred.

Brown's plea was accepted on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

'I flipped'

The court heard that the pensioner, who has cancer, made a 999 call after repeatedly stabbing Mrs Brown and hitting her on the head and body with an ornament.

Brown told the operator: "I've killed my wife."

When the operator said: "Sorry, you've killed your wife?" Brown replied: "Hopefully, with a bit of luck, yes."

He later told police that he had fallen asleep after drinking and when he awoke decided to kill his wife.

The court heard that Brown told officers: "I don't really know why I flipped but I did for some reason."

He explained that he was suspicious that his wife had been unfaithful to him, but there was no evidence that this was the case.

Advocate depute Alastair Brown said both the Crown and defence obtained psychiatric reports which concluded that Brown was suffering from serious depression which had affected his reasoning.

The judge, Lord Menzies, deferred sentence until next month for the preparation of reports and Brown was remanded in custody.