A 69-year-old man found guilty of beheading his wife and flushing her head down the toilet has been jailed for life in Britain.

Dempsey Nibbs was informed by the senior judge at the Old Bailey that he would serve at least 21 years in prison.

The Recorder of London, Nicholas Hilliard QC, told Nibbs: "I'm sure you don't regret your wife's death save for its effect on your own comfort and well-being". 

The crime was described as an act of "grotesque savagery".

Nibbs had apparently become enraged after his 60-year-old wife Judith, who delivered Meals On Wheels, taunted him as their relationship began to break down, saying she had been seeing other men.

Nibbs, who suffers from prostate cancer, claimed he acted in self defence.

But the jury disbelieved his story and found him guilty.

Nibbs' lawyer, Ian Henderson QC, said his client realised that poor health would condemn him to die in jail.

The attack happened on April 10th 2014 at the couple's flat in Hoxton, north-east London.

Nibbs initially attacked the mother of his two children with an iron bar, knocking her out.

He then cut her head off, smashed it with a mallet, and disposed of the pieces down the toilet.

Next, the crane driver wrote a note to his 30-year-old son Kirk and called 999, telling police they would find two bodies at the property.

An officer broke down the door when he saw Mrs Nibbs' headless body through the letterbox, grappling with a shotgun and a knife as Nibbs attempted to stab himself in the bathroom.

Nibbs said he had killed his wife because he thought she was a "snake".

But jurors were told he had shown no signs of mental illness.