A 71-year-old man rang police to confess to killing his wife before taking his own life, an inquest heard. Anthony Buxton strangled 69-year-old Michelle at their home in Treclago View, Camelford, on September 24 last year.
Emergency call revealed confession
Cornwall Coroner's Court heard Mr Buxton had alerted the ambulance service after attacking his wife. When police forced entry to the property, they discovered the couple with fatal injuries. Both were declared dead a short time later by paramedics.
PC Jacob Double, one of the first officers on the scene, said he and a colleague were responding to a 999 call from a man stating "he had killed his wife."
"As we were travelling further information came to light, which stated in the call to ambulance a female voice could be heard groaning and saying, 'help', and a male voice was heard saying, 'I've done it, no one can stop me, I've killed her'," Pc Double said in a written statement.
Post-mortem findings
Post-mortem examinations found Mrs Buxton had died from compression of the neck, while Mr Buxton died from a stab wound to his chest. The couple's son, Daniel, told the inquest his father had become unusually quiet in the months before his death and was becoming paranoid.
"Eventually it got to the point where mum seemed to be struggling and dad was getting quite anxious and really not wanting to tell us any information and would get defensive when pressed," Mr Buxton, a civilian police worker, said.
"It was anxiety trying to assuage any fears he might have. We installed CCTV cameras in the house because he was concerned there was an overarching delusion he had.
"He had this idea or beliefs that an organised crime gang was targeting him and had access to the house and had bugged the house with microphones and cameras, and his family were in danger. The overarching goal of this crime gang was to exhort Mum and Dad for police secrets from me because I work for the police."
Mental health referrals
Georgina Clark, from the Cornwall Partnership Mental Health Trust, said Mr Buxton had been referred to them by his GP on August 29 and an assessment was carried out on September 2.
"Because of Mr Buxton's age and the possibility of an organic cause, as there had also been mention from the GP of short-term memory loss over the past couple of years, it was felt it should be discussed with the dementia and older people's service first," she said.
"The assessing clinician took that to the duty worker and had that discussion and what they said was that he noted to be presenting with severe anxiety and that would need to be treated first as someone who is very anxious that can affect their ability to retain memory."
Andrew Cox, senior coroner for Cornwall, asked Ms Clark: "Mr Buxton was not a natural fit for any service because he is not typically presenting as a dementia patient, and he is too old to fit into the early intervention for psychosis? You are left with having to make a best fit where there isn't an obvious pathway for him to follow? Is that fair?"
She replied: "To a degree. I think that service would be offered by the community mental health team."
The inquest heard Mr Buxton was referred to the community mental health team who felt talking therapies would be appropriate to deal with his anxiety. Detective Constable Tom Graham, who investigated both deaths, said there was no evidence of third party involvement.
Coroner's conclusion
Mr Cox returned a conclusion of unlawful killing for Mrs Buxton and said her husband had taken his own life. "I think what has become apparent subsequent to these events is that no one had the full picture," he said.
"What is abundantly clear from the papers is that no one, family members or mental health practitioners, seriously felt that Michelle was at risk of harm from her husband Anthony. I have accepted as fact that on September 24 Anthony strangled his wife, and I'm also further going to accept the evidence from the police that having done that he's then stabbed himself in the chest. If Anthony had survived, he would inevitably have been charged with a homicide offence."
Addressing the family, the coroner added: "This is a dreadful set of circumstances, completely unexpected, and you have my deepest sympathies for what has occurred."
