Cyprus court: Briton freely confessed to wife’s killing

A Cyprus criminal court on Tuesday rejected a defense argument that a British man's confession to killing his ailing wife was unlawfully obtained, because he was in no frame of mind to speak to police without a lawyer present.

David Hunter, 75, made the statements to law enforcement officials and medical staff on five separate occasions following his arrest "undoubtedly of his own free will" without pressure or coercion, the three-judge panel said in a unanimous ruling.

The court said it couldn't accept testimony from a defense expert that Hunter suffered from "disassociation" following his wife Janice's December 2021 killing at the couple's retirement home in the coastal resort town of Paphos and wasn't fully cognizant of what he was saying.

The court said that at the time of his arrest, he recalled to law enforcement officials and to his brother in the UK in...