Police mistakes before double death

Mrs Susan Goswell (63) was found on December 23 last year with multiple stab wounds inflicted with a kitchen knife and a mallet at the gated bungalow she shared with her husband, Roger.

Mr Goswell (66) crashed his Smart car into a tree in Monkmead Lane, near West Chiltington, that same night and died later at Worthing Hospital.

Police said the disclosure by Mrs Goswell to her mentally-ill husband that she was not a virgin when she married him proved to be the catalyst to the tragedy.

A number of warnings were made about Mr Goswell's potential to harm his wife in the run-up to the tragedy as family members said he had a history of violence, the inquest was told last week.

Police also made several mistakes in handling the Goswell case, an investigator said.

Mrs Goswell told police, friends and relatives that her husband had threatened to kill her and himself.

Mr Goswell was sectioned under the Mental Health Act in November 2007, following a suicide attempt.

See West Sussex Gazette October 22 for full story.