Man beheads wife in act of ‘pure hatred’

Crime scene: police discovered Judith Nibbs’ body in 2014. Photograph: Metropolitan Police

A man decapitated his partner and flushed her head down the toilet at their home in an act of “pure hatred”, a court heard last week.

Police found the body of Judith Nibbs, 60, at her home on Charles Square Estate, Hoxton, on 10 April 2014. Her partner of 30 years, Dempsey Nibbs, 69, was found in the bathroom having turned the knife on himself.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC took jurors at the Old Bailey through the gruesome details of the crime scene and told the court that the pair’s relationship had broken down after Ms Nibbs admitted to having affairs with other men.

Mr Aylett told the court: “Quite why the defendant decapitated Judith and then disposed of her head is not entirely clear, but it may well be that he did it out of pure hatred at the sight of his wife’s face.”

He said Mr Nibbs claimed he cut off his partner’s head in self-defence, because he thought she was a snake.

Mr Nibbs denies murder and obstructing the coroner from holding an inquest by disposing of her head.

Mother of five Ms Nibbs predicted her death two days before she was murdered, telling her colleagues: “If I’m not in Friday, I might be dead.”

The trial continues.