A retired miner has vowed to take his own life at the first opportunity after a suicide pact with his terminally-ill wife failed. David Hunter, 74, is charged in Cyprus with murdering his wife of 52 years Janice in December, but insists it was her wish to die.
He is alleged to have suffocated leukaemia-stricken Janice before taking an overdose of prescription pills, however he was found and survived. Daughter Lesley Cawthorne, 49, has revealed his agony as he faces a life sentence unless the charge is reduced to assisted dying, reports the Mirror.
Speaking to her from prison in Cypriot capital Nicosia, he told her: “I do not know how to live without her. I’m Janice’s husband, and without her, I don’t really know who I am.”
David, a miner for 40 years in his native Northumberland before the pair moved to retire in Cyprus, says he acted out of love for 75-year-old Janice. When Lesley first spoke to him after the failed pact, he told her from his hospital bed in Paphos: “I’m so sorry, I love you, but I want to be with your mum. I’m so sorry but as soon as I get a chance, I will kill myself.”
Janice was diagnosed with blood cancer in 2016, and both she and David had endured heartbreak in the late 1980s that influenced their decision more than 30 years later, Lesley said. Janice’s sister Kath died of leukaemia and Janice had vowed not to endure the same pain should she face a similar fate.
David is sharing a cell with nine other men and his daughter claimed her dad dreams of his wife’s screams of pain as her blood cancer took hold. “He adored her,” a tearful Lesley said. “The only thing he really cared about was giving his family a nice life. Now it’s ended like this there’s a real possibility he will die alone in a foreign prison."
Lesley added: “Mum begged him for a long time (to assist her death) and was very clear about what she wanted. She was very much of the opinion that we have autonomy over our bodies.” David had told Lesley that Janice asked him to help her to die but she says: “My dad was very good at reassuring me. They never really let on how bad she was.”
He explained to Lesley that her mum had been in constant agony, and felt she had lost all her dignity – she had continual diarrhoea, was suffering horrific nosebleeds and her sight was going. She was unable to eat, drink or sleep, despite being exhausted.
David will face a life sentence in Cyprus for a murder charge, while assisted suicide carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. He pleaded not guilty to murder in a February court hearing in Cyprus.
Lesley is raising funds for legal fees via the Crowd Justice website with the total at £14,000 so far. But time is running out, as David’s trial in Paphos begins on April 18.
Michael Polak, of UK-based Justice Abroad, has written to the island’s attorney general to ask for the charge to be downgraded. He said: “We will be doing everything we can to get David home. It is in the public interest that he does not spend the rest of his life in prison. Nobody I’ve spoken to in Cyprus believes David Hunter should be on trial for murder.”
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