In a tragic twist, a source has revealed the alleged reason why an 87-year-old British pensioner tried to suffocate his wife with a pillow.
The Greek authorities have since arrested the man on suspicion of murder.
He appeared before an Athens prosecutor after he allegedly tried to suffocate the 89-year-old woman with a pillow in their apartment in Paleo Faliro, around 6km west of Athens city centre on Sunday.
Authorities said a neighbour called the police after the 87-year-old sought her assistance.
The Greek authorities also revealed that the 87-year-old pensioner allegedly suffers from dementia.
The pensioner has so far insisted he acted at the request of his wife who wanted to end her life after years of deteriorating health and severe dementia that had left her bed bound.
‘He couldn’t do it,’ said a senior police expert. ‘He just barely went to cover her face with a pillow and his wife fell unconscious. He then ran to get help from his neighbour.’
Officers reportedly found the woman still alive and lying on the bed in the apartment naked.
The victim was rushed to a local state hospital where she is recovering, authorities said.
The couple had retired in Greece decades ago, according to neighbours.
The case comes after British pensioner, David Hunter was jailed for 19 months in 2022 for killing his terminally-ill wife in Cyprus.
The 76-year-old, originally from Northumberland, smothered his cancer-stricken wife Janice with a pillow in December 2021 before trying to kill himself with a drugs overdose.
Mr Hunter told the court in Paphos how his wife had ‘cried and begged’ him to end her life and ‘liberate’ her as she endured agonising pain from blood cancer.
And after refusing her pleas for six weeks he suffocated her in December 2021 and then tried to kill himself with a drugs overdose.
He was put on trial for murder but last year judges dismissed this charge and convicted him of manslaughter.
Hunter was sentenced to two years, but was freed after Cyprus authorities deemed he had already served his time in Nicosia prison.
The 76-year-old said he would ‘never in a million years’ have taken his wife’s life unless she had asked him to.
He showed the court how he held his hands over his wife’s mouth and nose and said he eventually decided to grant her wish after she became ‘hysterical’.