A man who strangled his wife during a nightmare should be set free whatever the outcome of his murder trial, a prosecution psychiatrist told a jury yesterday.

Brian Thomas, 59, throttled his wife Christine, 57, during a bad dream in which he believed he was fighting somebody who had broken into their camper van.

A jury at Swansea Crown Court had heard that Mr Thomas, of Park Avenue, Neath, South Wales, suffers from a rare sleep disorder which left him unable to control his actions.

Medication that he usually took to control the disorder had been stopped while the couple were on holiday.

The couple, who had been married for 40 years, had driven 60 miles to the seaside village of Aberporth, Cardiganshire, in July last year.

They had originally parked in a car park on the seafront but had been disturbed in the night by boy racers doing wheel spins and handbrake turns. As a result they moved onto a pub car park for the night.

The jury heard a recording of Mr Thomas's emergency call yesterday in which he frantically told the operator "I think I've killed my wife. Oh my God."