Huddersfield man killed his wife then himself

Aug 13 2009 by Katie Grant, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

HE spent his life working hard to build up his own business.

But Kenneth Mann became so depressed after retirement that he killed his wife and then himself in the home they shared.

A Huddersfield inquest heard details of the couple’s final hours, and how Mr Mann found life hard to face without the daily grind of the workplace.

The 81-year-old had packed in his job running a plastics factory in 2000, aged 72, and struggled with his mental health ever since.

Mr Mann, who had no children but lived with loving wife Doreen, 80, was under care from the local authority for most of the years that followed.

In the days leading up to their deaths at their home in Thornhill Edge, officials of the South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SWYPNFT) were given no indication about the awful events about to unfold.

Yesterday, the hearing was told how Mrs Mann was found bludgeoned to death in the lounge while her husband was found drowned in the bath.

The inquest heard the details of the deaths of Doreen and Kenneth, who were found dead just before Christmas last year.

Det Sgt Lawrie, from West Yorkshire Police’s murder inquiry team in Bradford, said he believed Mrs Mann, 80, was killed unlawfully while husband Kenneth, 81, took his own life.

Mr Mann had been suffering from mental illness prior to the incident.

Det Sgt Lawrie said no-one else was involved in the deaths at the rural house on Foxroyd Lane, Thornhill on December 23 last year.

He said coroner Roger Whittaker should know that a witness had visited Doreen, a retired sales rep, prior to her death and Doreen had said: “I will see you again if I haven’t been killed.”

Det Sgt Lawrie added: “The witness thought it was a strange comment but took it more in jest than seriously.”

Two days before Christmas Day last year Mrs Mann was found by police slumped on the floor in the lounge.

A psychiatric nurse visiting the couple raised the alarm.

Mrs Mann was found with wounds on her neck and wrists and head.

The sofa was splattered heavily with blood. A hammer and a knife were found nearby.