He said he thought she was a ‘snake’
It was, a court heard, an ‘act of pure hatred’.
A judge handed down a prison sentence of 21 years to a husband convicted of the gruesome act of decapitating his wife – then flushing her severed head down a toilet.
Crane operator Dempsey Nibbs savagely beheaded his wife of three decades, Judith, when he flew into a rage upon her confession of infidelity.
Nibbs, then aged 69, was found guilty of murdering Judith, 60, a Meals On Wheels worker originally from Kirkham, Lancashire. Despite Nibbs’ claim he was acting in self-defence, a jury at the Old Bailey convicted him of murder after hearing details of the brutal killing.
His defence counsel, Ian Henderson QC, admitted during the trial that Nibbs, who was suffering from prostate cancer, was likely to spend his remaining days in prison.
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Ian Henderson QC, representing Nibbs, acknowledged in court that his client’s poor health meant he would probably end his life behind bars. The Recorder of London, Nicholas Hilliard QC, imposed a life sentence on Nibbs with a minimum term of 21 years.
The Irish News reported that Hilliard addressed Nibbs, stating: “I’m sure you don’t regret your wife’s death save for its effect on your own comfort and well-being”, reports the Daily Record.
Details emerged in court about the fateful night of April 10, 2014, when Nibbs assaulted the mother of his children in their Hoxton flat, east London. After rendering her unconscious with an iron bar, he decapitated her, crushed her head with a mallet, and disposed of the fragments in the toilet.
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Following the gruesome crime, the killer penned a note to his 30 year old son Kirk and then dialled 999 to inform them that two bodies would be found at the home. Upon arriving, a police officer forced entry when he saw the decapitated corpse of Judith Nibbs through the letterbox and managed to disarm Nibbs, confiscating a shotgun and a knife as he tried to self-harm in the bathroom, reports Lancs Live.
Subsequently, Nibbs confessed to the killing of his wife, alleging he thought she was a “snake” though there was no evidence that he suffered from any mental disorder. The Old Bailey heard from Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC that the couple’s relationship deteriorated in spring 2014 after Nibbs began suspecting his wife of infidelity.
On April 7, amidst an argument, Mrs Nibbs confessed she had been seeing other men.
The following day, before leaving her workplace, Mrs Nibbs made a hauntingly accurate prediction of her fate with the harrowing words: “If I’m not in Friday, I might be dead.”
Frances, Judith Nibbs’s sister, portrayed her as a “very kind and caring person” while reading a family statement. She expressed that despite any marital issues, Judith did not deserve to die in such a “callous and brutal way.”
The bereaved sister also shared how “shocked and devastated” the entire family had been by the murder.
It was noted in court that the ordeal of the trial had profoundly impacted Judith Nibbs’ son, Kirk, so much so that he felt unable to provide a statement on how the crime had affected him.