Teashop owner killed wife after anonymous note telling of affair
‘Planned it in advance’
A JEALOUS husband stabbed his estranged wife to death after receiving an anonymous note revealing her affair.
Richard Pitkin, 65, then hanged himself at the 16th century home where they had run a tea shop.
His 58-year-old wife Sarah had moved out after a message about her cheating with a ‘local man’ was sent to the marital address in January.
When she came round weeks later to talk about money, Mr Pitkin launched a frenzied knife attack in the bedroom they had once shared before leaving her face down on the bed.
He hanged himself from a loft hatch in the same room after leaving a note outside the barricaded door warning their son to call police and not to go in.
The carpenter and decorator left other notes around the Grade II listed property in Stowmarket, Suffolk, that suggested he had planned the deaths in advance, an inquest in Ipswich heard yesterday.
A coroner concluded that charity shop deputy manager Mrs Pitkin was killed unlawfully and her husband’s death was suicide. The hearing was told there was ‘some suggestion’ that Mr Pitkin had been abusive to his wife of 37 years, although family disagreed on the claims.
Detective Superintendent David Cutler said: ‘It does seem apparent that Sarah and Richard began to grow apart and this led to Sarah developing a new set of friends. From this friendship base she began an extra-marital affair.
‘The arrival of an anonymous letter informing Richard of this affair appears to be the catalyst for the rapid deterioration of the relationship and Sarah moving out of the family home soon afterwards.’ He added: All evidence strongly indicates that Richard Pitkin murdered his wife Sarah by stabbing her in the neck and then took his own life.’
Mrs Pitkin moved in with her mother after the note revealed her affair. On February 26, Mr Pitkin asked their son Tommy to ‘make himself scarce’ as his estranged wife was coming over to ‘talk about finances’. Tommy saw his mother arrive at the £300,000 semi- detached property as he left shortly after 11.30am. He returned to the house later to find a note pinned to a bedroom door that read: ‘Please do not come in. ‘Call the police and say I am sorry they have to deal with this.’ Officers forced their way into the room and found the bodies of the couple, who had four children.
Post-mortem examinations revealed Mrs Pitkin died from multiple stab wounds to the neck. Her husband died from compression to the neck.
Tommy, who is in his 20s and worked for the family carpentry and decorating business, said he and his father had been ‘laughing and messing around as normal’ on the day of the deaths. But investigators later found Mr Pitkin had searched online about depression and suicide. planned was ‘not a Detectives the spontaneous tragedy, believe saying act’. he it An identical copy of the note on the bedroom door was found in a study and another message was also found. Coroner Dr Peter Dean said: ‘It is difficult to envisage a more tragic situation than this. Clearly, there were difficulties and it is also clear from looking at all the evidence that Mr Pitkin died in a manner which was not spontaneous and had thought through his actions before undertaking them.’ The couple moved from London to Stowmarket in 2006, when they renovated their dilapidated £250,000 property. Part of it was converted into a tea room, although the business closed around four years ago. Mrs Pitkin then started working at a charity shop. Staff said she was a ‘well-loved member of the team’ and ‘full of life and joy’.