Man 'chopped his virgin wife's head off because she refused to have children'

A postal inspector went on trial in France yesterday accused of chopping his wife’s head off because she refused to have children.

Philippe Cousin, 53, said he suffered a ‘mid life crisis’ when he approached his half century without a son or daughter.

He blamed it on his 47-year-old wife, Nicole, who was still a virgin despite having been married to him for more than 21 years.



On April 16th 2007, Cousin telephoned his local police station in Arras, northern France, and told an officer: ‘Excuse me for disturbing you, I’ve killed my wife.’

In a fit of rage following a domestic argument, he had taken a kitchen knife to her neck before slicing her head off.

Yesterday morning he appeared before a judge at the Pas-de-Calais assizes at Saint-Omer, near Calais, facing life in prison for murder. He denies the charge, pleading diminished responsibility, but faces life in prison.