A 58-year-old Kent woman who admitted killing her husband with an axe has been freed by a crown court judge.

Tearful Wadanahalugeder Chandrasekera, of Port Close, Bearstead, near Maidstone, was told that she would not be going back to jail after she admitted the manslaughter of her husband, Sarath. She has served nine months on remand.

Mr Justice Fulford, sitting at Woolwich, ordered Chandrasekera to serve a three year community order after hearing her responsibility for the crime was diminished. She had suffered years of torment after her husband had an affair with her niece and the two of them had a child together.

In a statement her children, Harshani and Thusara, said they were exceptionally distressed about what had happened to their father in October last year but did not blame their mother for what happened.