A British expat in Cyprus who killed his terminally ill wife has died in hospital, his family has said.

David Hunter, 78, was found guilty of manslaughter in 2023 after he suffocated Janice, 74, at their home in Tremithousa, near Paphos, in December 2021.

She had been suffering terminal blood cancer and had 'begged him for weeks' to end her life, Hunter's trial heard.

His heartbroken daughter Lesley Cawthorne, 53, confirmed that her father had died in a Cypriot hospital on Wednesday.

Hunter, a former coal miner from Ashington, Northumberland, had been suffering increasingly poor health since being released from prison three years ago.

He is understood to have been admitted to hospital this week because of a urinary tract infection, but died suddenly, Lesley said.

After Janice's death he was jailed for two years, but with time served, was released in the summer of 2023.

He remained living on the island to be close to his late wife's grave near Tremithousa. They had been married for 52 years and retired to Cyprus in 2002.

Lesley, from Norwich, said: 'We are devastated and the support over the last few years has meant the world to us.'

His trial in Paphos heard that after suffocating Janice, Hunter had tried to take his own life but was found by police officers who were alerted by Interpol after he had contacted family to tell them what had happened.

Hunter was released in August 2023 after 19 months in prison when judges acquitted him of premeditated murder and convicted him of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

It saw him finally able to visit the grave of his beloved late wife Janice.

But Cyprus' attorney general appealed both the manslaughter verdict and the sentencing handed down to Hunter, and further court hearings were due.

A counter-appeal has been entered on Mr Hunter's behalf. 

Michael Polak of Justice Abroad previously stated: 'It was very disappointing that, after the Assize Court's decision in July 2023, the prosecution decided it was somehow in the public interest to appeal, meaning that David has had the prospect of returning to prison for the rest of his life hanging over his head since then.

'The Assize Court listened to the evidence carefully and gave a reasoned decision based upon the evidence that they heard. Their sentence was fair and based upon the traumatic facts of this particular case.

'We hope that the Appeal Court will recognise that the assessment of the facts from a number of live witnesses over nearly a year and a half resulted in the Assize Court having the best view of the facts of the case, both in relation to conviction and sentence.'

The case made headlines around the world as debates broke out over the mercy killing.

Mr Hunter's trial was the first euthanasia case ever heard on the Mediterranean island and sparked fierce debate in the Greek Orthodox country.

It had stirred up the Orthodox Church which fiercely opposes any moves to bring in any pro-euthanasia legislation.

There are fears such pressure could have affected the Attorney General's decision to bring about the appeal.

If it had been successful it could have seen Hunter's acquittal for murder overturned and a mandatory life sentence imposed.