Dempsey Nibbs, 69, may have cut off partner Judith's head "out of pure hatred at the sight of his wife's face", court hears
An elderly crane driver cut off his partner's head, broke her skull into pieces and flushed the remains down the toilet after she boasted of having sex with other men, a court heard.
Judith Nibbs, 60, may have still been alive when her partner of 30 years, Dempsey Nibbs, 69, decapitated her with a kitchen knife, jurors heard.
He then took to the Meals on Wheels worker's severed head with a mallet and a metal bar before disposing of the pieces in the toilet in the flat they shared in Hoxton, north London.
Dempsey called police and turned the knife on himself but was stopped from committing suicide by brave officers despite Nibbs wielding a shotgun.
Prosecutor Crispin Aylett, QC, 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."
Nibbs admits killing Ms Nibbs between 9 and 12 April 2014 but claims he acted in self defence during a struggle.
He later claimed he was 'out of his mind' believing Ms Nibbs, who took his name and had his two children despite never marrying, was a snake and that he needed to cut her head off.
But there was no evidence Nibbs was suffering from mental illness although he was in poor physical health after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, the Old Bailey heard.
He entered the dock on crutches wearing a dark beanie-style hat and green prison-issue tracksuit.
Mr Aylett told jurors: "This, I am sorry to say, is a case that is as terrible as it is tragic."
By early 2014, the couple's relationship had soured and Nibbs was suspicious his common law wife was seeing someone else.
Nibbs had moved into the spare room and an 'undercurrent of violence emerged' as the relationship fell apart, it was said.
Ms Nibbs told her sister Nibbs had threatened to kill her and grabbed her by the throat, jurors heard.
Mr Aylett said that during a row on 7 April, Ms Nibbs told her partner she had been seeing other men and taunted him saying: 'I have had sex eight times.'
Jurors were told that before she left work at the Hackney Council-run meal delivery service the following day, Ms Nibbs said: "If I'm not in Friday, I might be dead."
Mr Aylett said: "In the event, Judith had every reason to fear for her safety."
She did not turn up for work, where her colleagues describes her as 'a loud, happy, joyful person', after Nibbs attacked her on the night of 10 April.
"What might otherwise have been a family tragedy now becomes terrible," Mr Aylett told jurors.
"You will, I am afraid, have to brace yourselves.
"Having attacked his wife, the defendant then took up a kitchen knife and cut off her head."
The post mortem exam revealed she may have been still alive, although probably unconscious, when she was decapitated.
"Nor does the horror end there," the prosecutor continued.
"Having decapitated his wife, the defendant began to break her head into pieces with a mallet and a metal bar.
"He then flushed the pieces down the lavatory."
The court heard Nibbs intended to kill himself and wrote a suicide note addressed to his son, Kirk, 30.
He told police they would find 'a couple of dead bodies' but was surprised when emergency services arrived minutes later, the prosecutor said.
"The police officer bent down and looked through the letter box," said the prosecutor
"In the hallway, he could see the decapitated body of Judith Nibbs.
"The policeman kicked the door in and, once inside, he found the defendant in the bathroom.
"The defendant had a shotgun in one hand and a kitchen knife in the other.
"When the defendant saw the officer, he started stabbing himself with the knife.
"Acting with remarkable bravery, the officer took hold of the shotgun and threw it out of the defendant's reach."
Nibbs was rushed to hospital where it was found he had stabbed himself once in the throat and twice in the abdomen.
He was operated on but remained in hospital for a whole year.
The Nibbs' began a relationship in 1984 and, although they never married, lived as husband and wife.
Ms Nibbs, born Judith Brindle, had three daughters from a previous marriage.
She had two more children with Nibbs, shop worker Kirk, 30, and Lauren, 28.
The four lived together for many years in a flat on the Charles Estate in Hoxton.
After Lauren left to live in a care home in 2007 Ms Nibbs started working for Meals on Wheels at Hackney Council.
She was described by colleagues as 'always happy and smiley', 'always bubbly, very friendly and open-minded'.
Her son recalled his father thought Ms Nibbs had changed after she found herself a job.
"Dempsey complained to Kirk that Judith was not "the housewife" she used to be, that she had become more liberal in her outlook and that she had begun going out with her friends from work," said the prosecutor.
After Nibbs fell ill in 2012, Judith formed a close friendship with one of her neighbours, Said Barhandi, 58, whom she went on holiday with to Morocco in 2013.
Mr Barhandi insisted he and Ms Nibbs were just friends - a claim backed up by messages between them.
But the prosecutor said: "It appears she was involved in some sort of sexual relationship with someone else, quite possibly just online.
"After Judith's death, the police seized her computer.
"It is apparent that, between December 2013 and early February 2014, Judith had been exchanging sexually explicit messages and engaging in sexual activity on Skype with a man we will call Khalid."
Nibbs, of Shoreditch, east London, denies murder and obstructing the coroner by disposing of her decapitated head.
The trial continues.
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