He has confessed to the killing, which took place last April, and claimed that she drove him to it with her constant nagging. “I just wanted to shut her up,” the Austrian Press Agency quoted him as saying. 

The 51-year-old married his wife in 2009, but a year later the couple had divorced. However, they remained living together, even though they quarrelled constantly.

On April 24th 2014 the couple had been drinking and had a row as the man had not painted the house, as he had promised to. The wife went into the bedroom. Her ex went into the kitchen, grabbed a rolling pin and then attacked her in the bedroom, hitting her on the head and dragging her out of bed.

The prosecutor said that he hit her with such force that both handles of the rolling pin broke off. He then tied her feet together, taped her mouth, and strangled her to death with a shoelace. He told the judge that he had “just wanted to scare her” but that suddenly “she went quiet”.

He then cleaned the house and only called the police and ambulance hours later. He told police that he had found the 52-year-old lying dead on the floor after he returned from walking the dog, but later admitted that he had “been furious” with his ex.

Asked by the judge if that was the reason he had attacked her, he replied that he “didn’t recall”.