THE DEATH of an Eastbourne woman has been described as suspicious by a coroner, after the 64-year-old was found dead in her bed by her estranged husband.
Marina Stuart, of Seaford Road, Eastbourne, died at her home on November 4, 2008 and an inquest into her death was held at Eastbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday afternoon (February 18).
The inquest heard that she had spent the day in bed, compla
ining of chest pain and tiredness before taking medication to relieve her discomfort.
Her cousin Susan Rendell phoned to see how she was and was concerned when she sounded breathless.
Mrs Rendell said she told Marina's husband Andrew Stuart to phone an ambulance but he said she didn't want one and would be fine. He said he was checking on her every ten minutes but he only phoned an ambulance at around 10pm when she stopped breathing.
Paramedics attempted to resuscitate Mrs Stuart for around 40 minutes before she was pronounced dead. A post mortem was carried out by Home Office pathologist Dr Simon Poole and he found the cause of death to be heart disease. Forensic scientist Ian Humphreys, who specialises in toxicology, said there was a range of drugs in her system.
A large amount of paracetamol and sleeping tablets were found. Codeine, morphine, diazepam, anti-histamines and Prozac were also found. Mr Stuart said his wife was a former pharmacist and would often take lots of pills.
Dr Poole said the level of paracetamol was high but not fatal and Ian Humphreys said he was unable to say whether the large amount of drugs in Mrs Stuart's system had contributed to her death.
Police attended the property when Mrs Stuart died, seized the medication from the house and were treating it as a suspicious death.
Mr Stuart's previous wife died in very similar circumstances and police described his behaviour immediately after Mrs Stuart's death as 'bizarre'.
PC William Taylor told the coroner, "In my experience, in this sort of situation, people want to talk about the loved one who has been lost. He never mentioned his wife while we were there. The only thing he said was that she 'wasn't a ravishing beauty'."
Officers also overheard a telephone conversation he had with his mistress where he admitted to being relieved his wife had passed away.
The inquest heard their marriage had broken down. Mr Stuart said his wife continued to run the admin for his fire consultancy business and they lived in the same house but their relationship was platonic. Mr Stuart was meeting other women for sex and he told the coroner his wife knew he was having casual relationships.
However, Mr Stuart had a more serious relationship which began in early September 2007.
Gillan White, who lives in Shoreham, told the inquest she had met Mr Stuart via a dating website and he started to spend every weekend at her home.
Ms White, who previously believed Mr Stuart was a widower, started to suspect he was married and made a note of his home number which was printed on the side of his van. She spoke to Mrs Stuart and told her she had been having an affair with her husband but was unaware that he was married. Ms White and Mr Stuart split up after the incident but soon reconciled.
However, just hours after Mrs Stuart's death in the early hours of November 5, Ms White received a drunken sexual text message from Mr Stuart which she described as 'extremely inappropriate' given the circumstances. This prompted her to contact police because she thought his behaviour was strange, knew his first wife had died in similar circumstances and had linked the two deaths. She is still in a relationship with Mr Stuart and told the coroner that she no longer had any suspicions.
Mr Stuart gave evidence at the inquest and said, "In some ways it was a relief when she died because we argued a lot but in other ways it wasn't a relief because she handled the admin and accounts for the business, so it caused me a lot of grief and heartache."
He later added, "I didn't want her to die."
Mr Craze asked Mr Stuart whether he had fed her pills or deliberately not phoned the ambulance when he knew she was dying and he denied either suggestion was true.
Mr Craze said he was unable to record a verdict of unlawful killing because of the medical evidence but said, "There is so much that was suspicious about this death.
"I was not impressed by Mr Stuart in the witness box at all. It seems to me that I cannot truthfully say to myself, on the balance of all probabilities, that this was a death by natural causes."
Mr Craze said he had not found the case easy and recorded an open verdict.
