Nancy Lane pleads guilty to manslaughter at murder trial

A former Prescott, Ont., municipal councillor accused of giving her husband a fatal overdose has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter.

Nancy Lane was a registered nurse when she was accused of giving her sick 61-year-old husband Arthur drugs that made his heart stop in October 2009.

Arthur Lane was found dead in his home in Athens, Ont., about 130 kilometres south of Ottawa. She was charged with first degree murder in August 2011 after a lengthy police investigation.

The agreed statement of facts was read out in court on Monday. It said Lane, now 55, failed to provide the necessaries of life to her husband, whose health significantly declined on Oct. 8, 2009.

Crown lawyers had alleged Lane's relationship with a "gigolo" and "conman" who was "half her age" in the Dominican Republic was "key to the motive" to kill her husband.

Arthur Lane, a former leader with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, had a $200,000 life insurance policy as well as a pension.

Lane will return to court on June 4 for sentencing.