It was at the end of October last year that the man tried to strangle his wife with the help of a scarf in the couple's shared bed.
The attempted murder was interrupted by the couple's daughter, who physically forced the father to stop.
After the incident, the man, together with his family, went to the police and reported himself.
Suspended from work
The man himself claims to have no recollection of the incident.
He had for a long time had major financial problems which he tried to hide from the family.
He had been suspended from his workplace at a government agency after he tried to extort money from colleagues.
The man was also suspected of embezzling money by falsely reporting mileage compensation and using a company card for private expenses.
His employer wanted to fire him, but the personnel responsibility board did not consider that a dismissal was possible as the internal investigation took too long.
Reduced sentence
The man denies responsibility for the crime because he does not consider himself to have intended to injure or kill the wife.
The Gävle district court finds that it is beyond reasonable doubt that the man intended to kill the wife because he attacked her from behind unprovoked.
The penalty scale for attempted murder is imprisonment of at least 10 years to life.
But because the court considers that the man had a reduced ability to control his actions due to his mental illness, he should have a milder sentence - 7 years in prison.
The man must also pay damages of SEK 208,000 to the wife.