'Henpecked' man cleared of murder

A man who stabbed his partner of 30 years to death because of her nagging was cleared of murder. Judith Scott, 62, was found with a knife sticking out of her chest at home after a 999 call by Dennis Long.

Long, 59, told police he did it, saying: "I just lost it. She gave me grief so I knifed her." He had endured years of abuse which included being beaten with a poker, Newcastle Crown Court heard. In March, he snapped at their home in North Shields after she called him weak, "a pansy" and "a poof", saying she should wear the trousers and he a dress. Long was convicted of manslaughter and jailed for four years and eight months.