Lover admits killing partner at Oswestry home

Psychiatrists will have to decide whether a man who killed his partner at their home in Oswestry is deemed a danger to society.

Brian Woodmass, 59, will face a substantial prison sentence when he is sentenced for the manslaughter of Jillian Louise Nevitt, a judge has warned.

Woodmass, of Orchard Street, Oswestry, pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Nevitt, but guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility when he appeared at Stafford Crown Court yesterday.

Ms Nevitt, a 45-year-old mother and grandmother, was killed on December 14 last year. No details of how she died were revealed in the hearing. But Judge Simon Tonking said: "Jill Nevitt was not only killed, but killed in a very brutal way."

He said Woodmass must expect a jail term of considerable length when he is sentenced on December 22.

He called for a psychiatric report to consider whether Woodmass should be deemed 'dangerous'.

Addressing his remarks to the many members of Ms Nevitt's family who were in court, the judge said it was difficult to explain diminished responsibility when the facts of what happened were so dreadful.

He had been told by Mr Mark Wall, for Woodmass, that psychiatrists had said Woodmass had been suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The judge said that for the family's sake Woodmass must be sentenced before Christmas. He promised the family that he would read the many letters that they had written to the court before the next hearing.

"Today has been a very, very anxious and tense day for you," he said.