Photo: National Pictures
Judith Nibbs(left) was beheaded with a kitchen knife by long-term partner Dempsey Nibbs
‘Dempsey Nibbs, 69, decapitated her with a kitchen knife, jurors heard. He then took to the severed head with a mallet and a metal bar before disposing of the pieces in the toilet‘
Judith Nibbs, 60, was killed by Dempsey Nibbs, 69 in her London home
Nibbs claims Judith said she had ‘sex eight times’ with other men
Claims he ‘thought she was a snake’ and that he needed to cut her head off
He admits killing her but claims he acted in self-defence during struggle
Despite Nibbs claiming he was ‘out of his mind’, there was no evidence that he was suffering from mental illness although he was in poor physical health after being diagnosed with prostate cancer (pictured detectives called to the blood-spattered property in Hoxton, London)
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.
Mother-of-two 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.
The Balfour Beatty worker 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 Nibs on the night 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 he shares two children called Kirk and Lauren with – 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.
Mr Nibbs alledgedly broke her skull into pieces and flushed the remains down the toilet after she boasted of having sex with ‘eight men’
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, who took Nibbs’ name despite never marrying, told her sister Nibbs had threatened to kill her and grabbed her by the throat, jurors heard.
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.’
Nibbs admitted he killed her but claimed he acted in self-defence. He said he thought Mrs Nibbs ‘was a snake and that he needed to cut her head off’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.’
‘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 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 police officer bent down and looked through the letter box. In the hallway, he could see the decapitated body of Judith Nibbs,’ said the prosecutor.
‘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.
Nibbs, a crane driver, called police after decapitating Mrs Nibbs and turned the knife on himself but was stopped from committing suicide by brave officers despite Nibbs wielding a shotgun
‘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.
Nibbs, of flat 2, Vince Court, Charles Square Estate, Shoreditch, east London, denies murder and obstructing the coroner by disposing of her decapitated head.
The trial continues.
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