A man found guilty of stabbing his wife to death has forfeited any rights of inheritance from her estate, the courts declared.

In an application Consiglia Degiorgio, the maternal grandmother of the minor children of Roger Agius and the late Catherine Agius told the court that her daughter was stabbed to death by Mr Agius in July 2009.

Mr Agius had undergone a trial by jury and he was found guilty of the murder of his wife and jailed for 31 years last January.

Mrs Degiorgio said that her daughter had died intestate and that, according to law, her children would inherit one-half of her estate between them while Mr Agius, as the surviving spouse, was entitled to inherit the remaining half.

In his judgment, Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco said that the Civil Code provided that a person who murdered another person was not entitled at law to inherit such person on the grounds of unworthiness.

The court, therefore, concluded that Mr Agius was not worthy to benefit from the inheritance of his murdered wife and that the estate of Mrs Agius was to benefit her children only.