A father-of-two from Shipley who drove his wife to a viaduct where she jumped 100ft to her death has been cleared of aiding and abetting her suicide.

David Stephenson, 49, always denied he knew his wife Linda was going to jump off the bridge near Sprotbrough, South Yorkshire, despite a jury hearing how she had pestered her family for weeks to help her end her life.

The jury at Doncaster Crown Court cleared Stephenson of one charge of aiding and abetting suicide after deliberating for about three hours and following a four-day trial.

As the foreman returned the not guilty verdict, Stephenson closed his eyes, clasped both hands to his chest and whispered: "Yes." He then thanked the jury.

But before Judge Michael Murphy allowed Stephenson, of Mires Beck Close, Windhill, to leave the dock, he urged him to get help.

The judge said: "I honour the verdict of the jury but I feel, having heard what I have heard in this case, that you could do with serious help in your life.

"It is all very well being a private person but you can't be that private that facing the adversities that you face, you face them entirely on your own.

"You need help. Go and get it."

The court had been told that Mrs Stephenson, 48, committed suicide in June last year after her mental health deteriorated rapidly over the previous few months.

The jury heard that she continuously begged her husband and her eldest son Matthew, 21, to kill her, often waking Mr Stephenson up in the middle of the night to harangue him about it.

She even suggested her son should drive the whole family off a cliff.