A MENTALLY ill Hampshire father who killed his alcoholic wife in Totton near Southampton last summer, has been sent to a secure hospital for an indefinite period.

John Austin had been due to stand trial for murder following the discovery of his wife, Christina's, body at the home they shared with their two sons last June.

However, at Winchester Crown Court on Monday, a last minute plea-bargain was accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service and the charge was changed from murder to manslaughter with diminished responsibility - a charge to which Austin pleaded guilty.

Austin, 44, was yesterday sentenced to an indefinite stay at Ravenswood House medium-secure unit, a 58-unit state-of-the-art forensic psychiatry unit near Fareham, where he has been since August last year.

The court heard how Austin had a long history of mental illness and had been treated in hospital twice before for serious manic depression.

The court also heard how the relationship between Austin and his wife had been difficult, with a great-deal of the difficulty caused by Christina's chronic alcoholism and dependency on prescription painkillers.

The relationship had broken down to such an extent that Austin had twice before tried to kill his wife, the last time in April 2002 getting sectioned under the Mental Health Act in the process. Yet within weeks of his release for the last attempt on her life, Austin again tried to strangle the woman - described by neighbours as a loner - only this time he succeeded.

She was found dead on June 13 at the house by paramedics, to whom Austin confessed he had throttled her.

Dr John O'Grady, a consultant forensic psychiatrist who examined Austin at Ravenswood, told the court that Austin suffered a bi-polar disorder that caused him manic depression and which "was very severe and had developed over a long period of time, and could dramatically alter his behaviour."

Austin's barrister, Jeremy Gibbons QC, said: "There's a vast amount of information about this tragic couple, but it's safe to say that a hospital order is the only way to treat this man, while also allowing his children access to him."