A JEALOUS husband who believed his wife was having an affair strangled her before he hanged himself at their Catford home, an inquest heard.

The bodies of Cyril Campbell, aged 43, and his wife Edwina, aged 33, of Minard Road, were found by their landlady on February 6, this year.

The Jamaican couple came to England in 2001 after Mrs Campbell got a visa to work in a school as part of a scheme to ease the teacher shortage.

But Mr Campbell, who would have been forced to return to Jamaica if they had split up, confided in a friend that he would kill his wife if she ever left him.

Landlady Beatrice Rhoden-Thomas told Southwark Coroner's Court she had heard the couple argue on the previous evening.

At 1am she heard Mr Campbell go downstairs and, when she got up to walk her dog five hours later, she saw their back door was open.

Miss Rhoden-Thomas said: "I wanted to know why the dog wouldn't go outside. I went outside and saw Cyril hanging from the window."

She called to Mrs Campbell. When there was no reply, she walked up stairs and found her.

Sergeant David Blundell told the inquest Mrs Campbell was found with an electric iron flex around her neck.

Mr Campbell had anchored a rope to the bed and thrown it out of the window before hanging himself.

Pathologist David Rouse told the court fingernail marks on Mr Campbell showed his wife had tried to resist being strangled.

Coroner Selena Lynch recorded a verdict of unlawful killing on Mrs Campbell and suicide on Mr Campbell at the inquest on July 11.

She said: "It is not proper to name the person responsible. We don't try people after their death in this country."

She added: "But no one else is being sought in what was a most tragic loss of life."

July 16, 2002 17:00