Devoted husband kills sick wife then himself ‘out of love’

TRAGIC SCENE The couple’s home A DEVOTED husband took his wife from her care home and smothered her to death out of “love and compassion” before he hanged himself at their house, an inquest heard.

Retired teachers Linsey Sergeant, 71, and wife Jane, 70, had both been in failing health.

Mrs Sergeant, suffering Parkinson’s and dementia, had been put in a care home where “utterly devoted” Mr Sergeant, diagnosed with colitis, visited her for six hours each day.

He had been racked with worry about looking after his wife as well as their detached five-bedroom countryside house as their health deteriorated, the inquest heard.

On October 3 last year he drove to pick up his wife for a day trip and took her to their home 15 miles away. The alarm was raised that night after she failed to return to Bryn Ifor residential care home in Newport, Gwent.

Police found Mrs Sergeant on the living room floor with a duvet on her head and Mr Sergeant hanged from the stairs. Son Mark said in written evidence: “My father would visit my mother on a daily basis from 10am until 4pm. He treated it like a full-time job.”

The Newport inquest heard Mark and brother David spoke to their dad every week and he gave no hint of what he was planning.

Mark said Mr Sergeant had worried about the cost of the care home but said his actions were “purely driven by love and compassion”.

The coroner recorded a suicide verdict for Mr Sergeant and unlawful killing for his wife.