Retired miner David Hunter, 76, suffocated Janice, his wife of 52 years, at their home on the island, after she “begged him” to end her life as she suffered from blood cancer.
Mr Hunter had denied premeditated murder but was found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter in a case which was a legal first in Cyprus.
On Monday, judges at Paphos District Court imposed a two-year jail sentence on Hunter.
However, he had already spent 19 months in custody – the majority of his sentence. His legal team later confirmed he had been set free after Cypriot prison authorities officially calculated his release date.
Asked by reporters outside how he was feeling, a visibly emotional Hunter said: “I can’t describe it. I’m sorry. I wish I could, I wish I could find words to describe it but I can’t.
“When you’re under pressure for two years, not knowing which way it’s going to go.”
His daughter Lesley Cawthorne, who launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for his defence, spoke to him on the phone shortly after the sentencing.
She said: “Speaking to my daddy was the most amazing thing. I feel like my heart has been put back together.”
Janice Hunter, 74, died of asphyxiation at the couple’s retirement home near Paphos in December 2021.
Hunter, from Ashington, Northumberland, told his trial, which lasted for more than a year, that his wife “cried and begged” him to end her life.
He broke down in tears as he said he would “never in a million years” have taken Mrs Hunter’s life unless she had asked him to.
He showed the court how he held his hands over his wife’s mouth and nose and said he eventually decided to grant her wish after she became “hysterical”.
The court heard he then tried to kill himself by taking an overdose, but medics arrived in time to save him.
He was found guilty last month. His lawyers had argued he should be given a suspended sentence. In mitigation last week, his defence lawyer, Ritsa Pekri, said Hunter’s motive was to “liberate his wife from all that she was going through due to her health conditions”.
The court heard it was Mrs Hunter’s “wish” to die and that her husband “had only feelings of love for her”.
On Monday, an emotional Hunter told reporters: “Thank you all so much,” the Cyprus Mail reported. Flanked by his defence team, he thanked his miner friends in the UK and said he wouldn’t have been able to cope without them.
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