A Dubai-based former British editor, convicted of hacking his 62-year-old wife to death, had his prison term increased by five years by a Dubai court.
The Court of Appeals increased the initial 10-year jail term.
The 61-year-old Francis Matthew was convicted of premeditated murder. He had been initially charged with assault resulting in his wife's death.
The appellate court verdict remains subject to be contested at the Court of Cassation within 30 days.
The British journalist was sentenced to a 10-year prison term, to be followed by deportation, on March 25 on a modified charge of assaulting his wife, 62, and causing her death.
The court also upheld the deportation order of Francis Matthew who was the editor-at-large of Gulf News.
His defence lawyer earlier called on the court to show mercy towards his client on the grounds that he did not intend or plan to kill her but was rather carried away in a moment of rage.
Defence lawyer Ali Al Shamsi of Al Shamsi and Partners, Advocates and Legal Consultants, pleaded for the Court of Appeals to decrease his client's 10-year prison sentence, based on the argument that the latter's action came as a result of a series of verbal provocations and persistently tense and unjustified, and seriously negative attitude by the victim.
On July 4, 2017, the former editor called the police to report that his wife was killed by thieves who had broken into his villa in Umm Suqeim 1 while he was away.
However, the police found leads that suggested foul play. They confronted the husband with their findings and he eventually confessed to having hit his wife to death with a hammer, following a heated argument, claiming it was not intentional.