Retired police officer Grenville Richings sentenced for killing wife

Elizabeth Richings died at the home in the Southbourne area of Bournemouth

A retired police officer has been handed a suspended prison sentence for strangling his wife of nearly 60 years.

Grenville Richings pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of 83-year-old Elizabeth Richings at their home in Bournemouth on 3 June.

The court heard he had become "deeply desperate" because of her constant pain and failing health.

The 83-year-old was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years, at Salisbury Crown Court.

The court was told Mrs Richings was blind and could only recognise her children by their voices.

'Mental torment'

She also suffered chronic pain after a number of falls and had broken her back on 11 May.

It was heard that, after killing his wife, the former police sergeant had tried to kill himself and wrote in his journal: "Peace, may God forgive me."

Judge Timothy Mousley KC told the defendant: "Your remorse was immediate and profound and I am satisfied that you believed the killing was an act of mercy.

"I conclude the mental torment engendered by the impossible situation in which you found yourself must have been intolerable."

Following the sentencing, Det Insp Mark Jenkins, of Dorset Police, said: "This was a tragic incident that has had a devastating impact on the loved ones of Elizabeth Richings in the saddest of circumstances.

"I hope that Grenville Richings' guilty plea and the sentence determined by the court today, following expert medical evidence, can bring some opportunity for the family to start to come to terms with the loss of Elizabeth."

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