A 55-year-old teacher has admitted killing his deputy head wife by pushing her off a cliff while they were walking with their dog.

A judge at Swansea Crown Court heard how Dennis Day was walking with his wife Ann on a coastal path in Freshwater East, Pembrokeshire, West Wales, when he pushed her and she fell on April 14 last year.

The remains of her body were washed up nearby more than two months later.

In court, Day again denied murdering his wife but pleaded guilty to her manslaughter.

The court was told the victim's family, as well as the couple's three teenage sons, were fully supporting Day and had backed the prosecution decision not to proceed with the murder charge.

Deputy headteacher Ann Day, 47, vanished from her home at Lamphey in Pembrokeshire in April 1999.

Day told police that she had failed to return after setting off for a walk with the family dog at Freshwater East beach near Pembroke.

He then changed his story and blamed her fall on the couple's black labrador dog which was with them at the time.

Skeletal remains

RAF and police helicopters, a police launch, dog handlers and coastguards launched a major search, but failed to find any trace of Mrs Day.

Her skeletal remains were found washed ashore at Manorbier in Pembrokeshire.

Her husband, 55-year-old Dennis William Day, was subsequently charged with her murder.

Mr Day appeared before Swansea Crown Court where the Crown accepted his plea of manslaughter.

'No history of violence'

Leighton Davies QC, prosecuting, said the Crown could not prove murder.

"There was no history of violence between them. Indeed the divorce petition contains no allegations on the part of the deceased of any violence.

"There is no forensic or scientific evidence of any kind which indicates that the defendant in the case intended foul play or injuries to the deceased prior to her disappearance.

"There are indications in the evidence that it was not a planned killing and the deceased was not abducted."

Day, a humanities teacher at Bush Comprehensive School, Pembroke Dock, and his wife, who was deputy head at Barn Street Primary School, Haverfordwest, had been married for 24 years but were preparing to divorce.

Mr Day was released on bail and will be sentenced on 24 January.