Murder-suicide ‘followed anonymous letter of affair’

A FATHER-of-four murdered his wife then hanged himself weeks after an anonymous note alluding to his wife having an affair was delivered through the family door, an inquest heard.

Richard Pitkin (65), fatally stabbed his wife Sarah (58), in the neck then took his own life at the home they shared in Stowupland Street, Stowmarket, Suffolk, the hearing in Ipswich was told.

They had been married for 37 years and had four children together.

Suffolk’s senior coroner Dr Pe- ter Dean concluded that charity shop deputy manager Mrs Pitkin was killed unlawfully and carpenter Mr Pitkin’s death was suicide.

Their bodies were found in a bedroom on February 26 this year after their son found a note on the door, which was barricaded shut, and called police.

Detective Superintendent David Cutler told the inquest: “In late January an anonymous note was delivered through the family door alluding to Sarah having an affair with a local male.

“Following receipt of the note she decided to go and live with her mother.”

He added: “In the months leading to her death, Sarah had been in a relationship with this male.”

He said that police had no record of previous incidents involving the couple, adding: “They appeared to have had a normal loving marriage and the family was a close unit, however there was some suggestion that there were difficulties in the relationship.”

Police were called by the couple’s son and officers found the two bodies in a bedroom, with post-mortem examinations recording that Mrs Pitkin died of multiple stab wounds to the neck and Mr Pitkin died of hanging.

In a statement, the couple’s son said that hours earlier his father had seemed fine and they were “laughing and messing around as normal”, then his father said his wife was coming round to discuss finances and he asked his son to “make himself scarce”.

Mr Cutler said: “There’s some suggestion that Richard was abusive to Sarah during the relationship.

“It’s not completely consistent in the nature of the accusations, with the different sides of the family having different thoughts about what that relationship may have been like.”

He said it seemed they had “started to grow apart” and Mrs Pitkin had developed a new group of friends.

“The arrival of an anonymous letter appears to have been the catalyst for the rapid deterioration of the relationship,” said Mr Cutler.

He said there was evidence Mr Pitkin had conducted online searches about depression and suicide.

Coroner Dr Dean extended his sympathies to the couple’s family, who sat in court, adding: “It’s difficult to envisage a more tragic situation than this.”