An elderly dementia sufferer has admitted beating his 82-year-old wife to death with a walking stick in row over the central heating.

Hazel Bailey was found beaten to death in the bedroom of the bungalow where she lived with her husband in Winsford, Cheshire, in September last year.

Douglas Bailey, 79, attacked his wife of 50 years with a walking stick after they argued over their finances, police confirmed.

Today Bailey pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility at Chester Crown Court.

Recorder of Chester, Judge Elgin Edwards, adjourned sentencing after the court heard that both defence and prosecution psychiatrists had agreed that Bailey was ‘suffering from dementia at the time’.

Judge Edwards said: ‘It’s a very troubling, worrying and tragic case from all points of view.’

‘Tragedy is by no means too strong a term,’ he said.

But the judge also warned Bailey, who has been in custody since his arrest: ‘No court wants to send a man of 79 to a lengthy custodial sentence, or indeed any custodial sentence.

‘But I want to make it quite clear so as not to build up any hopes, it does not mean there will not be a custodial sentence. It depends on the risk to the community. It’s a complex exercise.’

The frail-looking defendant, wearing a black jumper and tracksuit bottoms, nodded and said he understood what the judge was saying.

The court heard that the case had been delayed for 12 months while psychiatric assessments took place.

The judge added: ‘Although we have had to go through all these hoops to get here, this is the correct decision. This is manslaughter, not murder.’

The full facts of the case were not opened in court but it is understood that the alarm was raised by a neighbour when Bailey, a former builder and wallpaper factory worker, answered the door to a window cleaner who saw that his hands were covered in blood.

Det Insp Helen Spooner, from Cheshire Police, said: ‘It’s always been the view that in a case like this it is important that we didn’t get a miscarriage of justice.

‘If someone is mentally unwell and that explains their actions then they should be dealt with appropriately.’

She said specialist medical evidence had been ‘very unclear’ and had not always agreed, which is what caused the 12-month delay in the case.

‘My stance is that clearly Mr Bailey has taken his wife’s life. He gave us a clear account of assaults over a period of time.

‘My concern is how we will now manage him if he is released into the community.’

The officer said it was ‘a very sad case’.

The court heard the killing took place between September 4 and September 8 last year.

Sentencing was adjourned to October 29 at Chester Crown Court.

Read more: Daily Mail