Husband bludgeoned his wife with a wooden mallet and cut her throat before hanging himself inquest hears (From Messenger Newspapers)

Husband bludgeoned his wife with a wooden mallet and cut her throat before hanging himself inquest hears

12:18pm Wednesday 18th November 2009

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A HUSBAND unable to cope with his wife’s worsening dementia bludgeoned her with a wooden mallet and then cut her throat with a penknife before killing himself, a coroner’s inquest heard.

Davyhulme couple Ken and Eileen Martin were found dead by family members in the garage of their semi-detached on Broadway, last November.

Ken, 77, was found hanging from a rope, also with his wrists and throat slashed. The body of his 76-year-old wife, who’d been diagnosed with dementia in 2003, lay nearby.

GP records presented at the inquiry showed the couple were both suffering from increasingly poor health, Mr Martin – a retired steel worker – had diabetes, prostate cancer, had suffered a stroke and consequently had mobility problems.

His daughter, Elaine Tong, told coroner Joanne Kearsley, her dad – who she described as a worrier - was unwilling to accept help from outside the family, had refused respite care for his wife by social services and was finding the job of caring for his wife increasingly difficult as his own health failed.

Both Mrs Tong and her husband, Dennis – who would visit the elderley couple on a daily basis – told the court Ken had on a number of occasions suggested he intended to kill his wife, although they had dismissed his comments.

“We thought Ken would do something, but never to the extent of this,” son-in-law Dennis Tong said giving evidence. “He used to say: ‘When it’s my turn, it’s her turn’.

“He told me she wasn’t our problem, but I never thought he’d do what he did.”

Also giving evidence, Elaine added: “Mum kept getting worse and worse. It drove my dad mad actually.”

On the day of their deaths, the court heard the couple had been bickering, after which Mr Martin told Dennis: “She hasn’t got long left,”.

Forensic evidence heard in court suggested Mrs Martin had first been ‘stunned’ with several blows to the head, before the fatal cuts were administered by her husband. Mr Martin then inflicted his own wounds and hung himself from the garage door.

A suicide note signed by Mr Martin, which outlined his intentions, was found in the property. Detectives ruled out any third party involvement.

Summing up, coroner Joanne Kearsley said: “Mr Martin was of the misguided belief that others could not or should not be asked to care for him and his wife.

“All the evidence suggests on November 10, Mr Martin inflicted injuries to Mrs Martin before he took his own life.

“The verdict I’m recording is that he died from taking his own life, and Mrs Martin died unlawfully.”

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