British editor faces execution in UAE over wife's death

A British editor of a prominent Dubai-based publication pleaded not guilty to a to a premeditated murder charge over his wife's killing, as prosecutors announced they will seek the death penalty, reports said on Wednesday.

Gulf News editor-at-large, Francis Matthew, is charged with beating his 62-year old wife to death with a hammer, police allege, leaving her body in a pool of blood in their bed before telling detectives that robbers killed her.

Matthew, 61, who looked thin and sombre while entering his plea, wore white prison-style clothes to a brief hearing in a Dubai courtroom on Wednesday.

"Not guilty," Matthew declared.

After the hearing, Matthew's lawyer Ali al-Shamsi said they are looking to get a minimum sentence for his client.

"There is a mistake in the autopsy report," al-Shamsi said, without providing further information.

The slaying took place on July 4 and has shocked the United Arab Emirates' large British expatriate population, of which Matthew and his wife belong.

Dubai police said they were called to Matthew's three-bedroom villa in Dubai's Jumeirah neighbourhood only to find his wife of over 30 years dead. The editor told them robbers broke into the home and killed her.

But during a later interrogation, police say Matthew told them his wife had grown angry with him because they were in debt and needed to move. Matthew said he got angry when his wife called him "a loser" and told him "you should provide financially," according to police.

Matthew went on to reveal his wife pushed him during the argument. He then got a hammer, followed her into the bedroom and struck her twice in the head, killing her, according to a police report.

The next morning, Matthew tried to make it look like the house had been robbed and later went to work like nothing had happened, throwing the hammer in a nearby dumpster, police said.

The English language publication Gulf News previously said Matthew served as its editor from 1995-2005 but was later promoted to editor-at-large.

He was still with the newspaper at the time of the killing, though a Gulf News article on the court appearance on Wednesday referred to him as a former employee.