Pensioner found guilty of murder after beheading estranged partner Judith Nibbs

Dempsey Nibbs

A Hoxton pensioner who decapitated his estranged partner and tried to flush her skull down a toilet has been found guilty of her murder.

Dempsey Nibbs, 69, strangled his partner of more than 30 years, Judith Nibbs, at their home on Charles Square Estate, Hoxton in April 2014.

The former crane driver had flown into a jealous rage when she confessed she had been sleeping with other men, the Old Bailey heard this week.

He then cut off her head with a knife out of “pure hatred at the sight of his wife’s face,” Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC told the court.

Judith Nibbs

Nibbs turned the knife on himself but was found while laying in the bath by a PC. The police officer had seen a decapitated body through the letterbox. Upon entering he wrestled the knife and a shotgun from Mr Nibbs.

The pensioner denied murder, claiming he killed Judith Nibbs, a meals on wheels worker, accidentally during a violent struggle. He then cut off her head because he believed she was a snake, the court heard.

But a jury at the Old Bailey on Tuesday found him unanimously guilty of murder.

Mr Aylett said it is possible Nibbs decapitated Judith while she was still alive but unconscious.

He said: “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.”

The last time she saw her colleagues Judith told them: “If I’m not in Friday, I might be dead.”

Their relationship had soured in early 2014 as Nibbs had suspected her of having affairs.