Husband walks free despite choking his wife to death after appeals court judges ruled “he acted out of love”

A man in the United Kingdom, who was jailed for killing his wife, was allowed to walk free after an appeals court judge ruled that “he acted out of love.” 67-year-old Ian Gordon suffocated his wife by placing a pillow on her face because she suffered from terminal cancer and she was in terrible pain. Patricia Gordon, 63, died at their home in Troon, Ayrshire, Scotland.
Ian was arrested on charges of murder. At the High Court in Glasgow, the couple’s daughter, Gail Whyte, said that her parents loved each other. She said that her parents met as teenagers and they were together for 43 years. She added that her father quit his job to care for her mother full time and he was always at her side.
Defense attorney Gordon Jackson said “there was no struggle, no fighting. He simply placed the pillow and let her go.”
Ian was found guilty of culpable homicide on the basis of diminished responsibility. Judge Lord Arthurson sentenced Gordon to 3 and a half years in prison. He appealed the decision at the Criminal Appeal Court in Edinburgh.
Jackson said that “jailing Ian took him away from his family and meant he was not with them to help with the grieving process.”
Sitting appeals court judges overturned the sentence, saying that his actions were motivated “solely by love.”