Devoted daughter Lillian Taylor had made her regular night-time phone call to her wheelchair-bound mother minutes before her killer dialled emergency services and confessed to her death.

Emrys Taylor, 64, told a controller: "I've just killed my wife. I'll go to prison for the rest of my life, it doesn't matter.

He said: "There's no need for an ambulance, just take her straight to the morgue."

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Taylor continued to blame his mother-in-law for causing him to kill his wife and kept making offensive remarks about her during the call.

Moments before, Mrs Taylor, 43, had phoned her mother Wilhemina Winter, 79, whom she had cared for for about 20 years.

Mrs Winter heard her daughter say: "Wait a minute Emrys, I'm speaking on the phone." Immediately after the remark she heard a growl-type sound.

She asked her daughter what the noise was but got no reply and found their conversation abruptly terminated.

Mrs Winter repeatedly shouted: "Are you there, Lillian?" but got no reply. She was extremely concerned and tried to contact her daughter on her mobile without success.

Taylor later made his 999 call confessing to killing his wife and was asked to check for a pulse, but replied: "I'm not touching her, she's dead."

Police arrived at the couple's home in Laird Terrace, Bonnyrigg, Midlothian, and found a blood-stained large felling axe on the living room floor and blood spatters on several walls. The murder victim was in a chair with her feet resting on a table.

Mrs Taylor was found to have suffered severe head injuries, including multiple fracures to the skull, jaw and cheekbones.

Pathologists said they believed she had been hit at least twice to the left side of the head with severe force, although the precise number of blows was unclear.

Advocate depute Simon Collins said: "These injuries were immediately fatal, there being no chance of survival. There were no obvious self-defence injuries."

He said it seemed likely that Taylor had gone out to a shed to get the axe to kill his wife and that this would have taken several minutes because of the distance and the number of locks in the house.

Mr Collins said: "This murder has had a profound and devastating effect on all those who knew and loved the deceased."

"In particular it has been a very difficult time for her parents, Mr and Mrs Winter, for whom the deceased was their pride and joy. They are both elderly and it is hard to imapgine that they will ever overcome the terrible hurt and loss which they feel," he said.

Taylor admitted murdering his wife by repeatedly striking her on the head with a axe at their home on April 3 this year.

The court heard that the couple had met through a shared love of rugby.
Taylor, from Mid Glamorgan in Wales, met his future wife through a trip to watch an international in Scotland. She was an enthusiastic supporter of the Scotland side.

They married in June 1999.

Mr Collins said that Taylor, who had worked in the building and mining industries, had been on sickness benefits and had a 25-year history of personality problems relating to irritability, anger control and obsessive, compulsive behaviour coupled with heavy drinking.

On the night of the murder the couple had been drinking and neighbours heard sounds of an argument.

Taylor broke down in the dock as the details of his crime were revealed to the court and the judge told him to take a moment to compose himself.

Lord Kinclaven pointed out that the sentence for murder of life imprisonment is fixed by law.

But he will also have to set a minimum term Taylor must serve before he can be considered for release and deferred sentence for a background report. Taylor was remanded in custody.