A jury has found that a pensioner killed his wife before telling police that he had been possessed by the devil.
Nigel Audsley, aged 65, was deemed unfit to stand trial due to struggling with his mental health and a court jury reached a conclusion that he is the person responsible for his wife, Patricia Audsley's, murder.
Leeds Crown Court heard during the opening of the trial on March 14 that Mr Audsley beat and stabbed his wife at their home between March 23 and March 25 last year, Yorkshire Live writes.
Prosecutor David Enoch QC told the jury that in the days just before her death, Mrs Audsley had expressed concerns for her husband's mental state, had asked a neighbour to check in on them more often and had called the police and informed them that he was hearing voices.
Mr Enoch said: "On March 24, 2021, she called 999 and spoke to a police operator and told them that he needed to go to hospital and she was very concerned about his mental state and worried about what he was going to do. She told them that he was hearing voices which was a symptom he regularly suffered from."
Mr Audsley then took the phone and told the call handler that he was not hearing voice. His wife could be heard calling him a "liar." The court heard that Mr Audsley had sometimes stayed at the Priestley Unit in Kirklees for treatment for paranoid schizophrenia.
Between March 23 and March 25, Mr Audsley beat his wife, stabbed her, covered her body with a blanket and went to bed.
The jury heard that forensic analysis later found blood matching Mrs Audsley's DNA on her husband's boxer shorts and the back of his legs.
On March 25, Mr Audsley called the police and told them "Some b****** has murdered my wife." He told the call handler he had found his wife's body in the living room when he had got up, and she was covered in a blanket that was not theirs. He said that he had gone to bed drunk.
When three officers from West Yorkshire Police attended, one went to the back garden with Mr Audsley, who pointed out a knife in the kitchen, and noticed a scratch on his face. When he was taken to the police station, it was declared he was unfit for interview after a medical assessment with a custodial paramedic during which he appeared to have suffered an audio hallucination.
Mr Enoch said: "He said he heard the voice of the devil and was possessed.
"On the 26th March he was assessed again. The assessor observed that his speech was monotone with no emotion, but at times had a threatening undertone.
"He said, 'I'm poorly and when I'm poorly I get depressed and when I'm depressed I become powerful. You have no idea what you're dealing with.' He said he wanted to go to hospital as he had not had his medication while in custody. He said when he was poorly at home it was because his medication was restricted and he said, 'That's why I'm unstable, I need to be taken to the Priestley Unit for my own protection.'"
Mr Audsley has been detained at a hospital that provides care and treatment for people with mental health needs for an indefinite period. His mental health will be monitored, and if a time comes that he is capable of standing trial he will be brought back before the courts.
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