A man from Chessington has been convicted of murdering his wife last year.

Keith Bettison, 73, went on trial at the Old Bailey this month for the murder of Ildiko Bettison, 48, in October 2020.

Mr Bettison was found unanimously guilty by the jury yesterday (21 December).

He has been remanded in custody ahead of sentencing at the same court, on a date to be set in January.

Mr Bettison, called police at 1.18am on 31 October 2020 claiming to have killed his wife at their home on Raynards Close in Chessington.

Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended, and found 48-year-old Ildiko Bettison in the bedroom of the property, unresponsive. She had suffered facial injuries.

Despite the best efforts of paramedics, Hungarian born Ildiko was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr Bettison, then aged 71, was arrested at the scene and was charged later that same day with his wife's murder.

On the night of the murder the couple had been drinking heavily and had been heard by neighbours to be arguing loudly inside their home.

Despite later pleading not guilty to the offence, when officers questioned him at the address, Mr Bettison said: "I killed the b****, what more do you want to know."

A friend of Ildiko told the court how the couple's relationship had deteriorated after Mr Bettison resigned from his job, becoming unemployed in June 2020 and that the arguments and alcohol abuse had escalated in the months leading up to the murder.

Detective Chief Inspector Vicky Tunstall, of the Met's Specialist Crime Command, said: "This was a needless act of extreme violence fuelled by uncontrolled anger and alcohol.

"No amount of remorse on the part of Keith Bettison will bring Ildiko back to her family. Due to his actions their extended family has lost them both and our thoughts are with them today."