Retired bricklayer James Gumbrell stabbed his wife Deborah at least three times.
He pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
At a brief hearing in Chichester on Friday, the Crown offered no evidence.
William England for the prosecution said the Crown made the decision not to go ahead with the trial after a psychiatric assessment.
“The Crown Prosecution Service have considered with great care the evidence of the psychiatrist.”
The Crown case did not pass the test for a reasonable prospect of conviction, he said.
An inquest heard Deborah Gumbrell bled out after being stabbed at least three times.
The 59-year-old died at her home in Northbourne Close, Shoreham, on Monday, October 24, 2022.
An inquest into her death gave the provisional cause of death as haemorrhage following stab wounds to the heart, liver and aorta.
Sussex Police were called to an incident at the house shortly after 12.30pm on October 24.
Air ambulance and paramedic crews attended and began life-saving techniques but Mrs Gumbrell was pronounced dead at 1.29pm.
Mrs Gumbrell worked for many years at Marks and Spencer in Brighton and later as a nursery assistant.
Tributes poured in for her, with one neighbour calling her “a very nice, very kind lady who always stopped to talk to you”.
Another person said: “Debbie was a fantastic key worker to our two boys at the nursery she worked at, they adored her. We are distraught at the news. She will be sorely missed.”
Mrs Gumbrell’s husband James Gumbrell, 62, was arrested and charged with murder.
His Honour Judge Jeremy Gold KC recorded a not guilty verdict to murder and said the 62-year-old will be sentenced in May.
Source link
[Featured]
[Just In]
