A retired salesman bludgeoned and strangled to death his wife before killing himself, as he struggled to cope with her terminal illness, an inquest heard today.
The bodies of Heather and Michael Newton were found at their £800,000 home near Poole Harbour, Dorset, on New Year’s Eve last year.
Mrs Newton suffered from Huntington’s disease, a fatal illness which causes nerve cells in the brain to decay over time.
An inquest into their deaths in Bournemouth heard that Mrs Newton’s symptoms had worsened in the weeks before her death.
She had become ’emotionally unstable and irritable’, a change in temperament with which her husband had been struggling to cope, a coroner was told.
The couple had spent Christmas with family before returning home on Boxing Day.
It is believed Mr Newton, 76, killed his wife of 40 years sometime on the afternoon of December 27.
He left a note in the study alongside their wills, in which he expressed his regret ‘for what has happened’ and the effect his wife’s worsening condition had on them both.
Worried friends found their bodies after letting themselves in through the back door, when several days passed without any signs of activity at the address in Lower Parkstone, Poole.
A post-mortem examination confirmed Mrs Newton, 70, died from a combination of blunt force head injury caused by an unknown object and forcible compression of the neck.
Mr Newton died from hanging.
The inquest heard that Huntingdon’s disease had run in Mrs Newton’s family for generations and was the reason they had chosen not to have children.
Mrs Newton’s brother Christopher Wadman hosted the couple at his home in East Sussex for Christmas and was shocked by his sister’s worsening condition.
He said his sister was normally a bubbly person but ‘seemed totally different’.
He said: ‘I was shocked, she had lost a lot of weight, her speech was slurred and her manner was distant.
‘She did have moments during Christmas Day where she was distressed and Michael consoled her.
‘She couldn’t use the boiling water tap in our kitchen. Michael seemed to take a lot of chastisement but dealt well with it.
‘She was talking to herself, having conversations with Michael when he wasn’t in the room.
‘Michael said she had been more erratic over the last few weeks and having more angry outbursts, I was concerned for him.’
‘They were supposed to stay longer but decided to leave on Boxing Day morning as Heather was “done and wanted to go home.’
Mr Wadman said the couple ‘always relied on each other for support.’
His brother-in-law, Dr Simon Wadman, phoned Mr Newton once he was back home on Boxing Day and advised him to speak to their GP for help managing his wife’s symptoms.
He said: ‘He told me the last three to four weeks had been very difficult for them – Heather was very emotionally unstable and irritable and he felt like he had been walking on eggshells.
‘Mike was always very stable, stoical and level-headed.
‘There was nothing out of the ordinary about the conversation. It raised no alarm bells or caused me to worry about them. The news of their death was completely unexpected.’
He tried to call again on December 29 but there was no answer.
Mrs Newton was discovered lying on the floor in the kitchen and hallway with head injuries.
Her brother said Mr Newton was her second husband and they seemed very happy, often enjoying driving their boat around the harbour before she became ill.
Dorset area coroner Brendan Allen said Mrs Newton had downplayed her symptoms to her doctors, but a post-mortem examination by a neurologist confirmed changes to her brain consistent with the illness.
Mr Allen said: ‘Heather and Michael Newton were a happily married couple, devoted to each other, comfortable in each other’s company and supportive of each other.
‘Mrs Newton had a family history of Huntington’s disease, in more recent years she began to display subtle symptoms consistent with that condition.’
He said that family were not concerned about their relationship despite Mrs Newton’s ‘significant decline’.
He concluded Mrs Newton died as a consequence of unlawful killing and Mr Newton by suicide stating: ‘after inflicting fatal injuries on his wife he took his own life by means of ligature suspension’.
