A FATHER jumped off a motorway bridge and hanged himself after attacking his wife in a car, an inquest heard.

Kevin Carpenter, 37, of Rennie Close, High Wycombe, died on February 16 at the Stokenchurch Overbridge on the M40.

A High Wycombe inquest heard how Sandra Carpenter had been travelling as a passenger with her husband just after 7pm on the day he died.

The couple had been making their way to Stokenchurch from High Wycombe when Mr Carpenter started to become physically violent towards his wife and parked the vehicle up on the pavement.

Mrs Carpenter ran from the car and towards the vehicle of passing motorist Peter Bestwick.

Mr Bestwick, of Greenwood Avenue, Chinnor, told the inquest last Thursday that a woman ran towards his car, flagged him down and got into the passenger side.

He said: "She was holding her neck and she said she was having difficulty breathing. She was very upset."

Mr Bestwick explained that Mrs Carpenter told him that her husband had tried to strangle her but let her go for the sake of their children. Mr Carpenter then told his wife he was going to kill himself.

Mr Bestwick took her back to High Wycombe to calm her down before returning to Stokenchurch. The pair spotted police cars at the bridge and Mr Bestwick said he asked Mrs Carpenter whether she wanted to speak to them. She replied: "I think I'll speak to the police I can't believe he's done it."

Mrs Carpenter told the inquest her husband had become depressed because she wanted to end their relationship and that he was convinced she was involved with someone else.

She explained that he was fine until about six months before his death when he had become depressed. Mr Carpenter had been to see a doctor for counselling and medication but he remained depressed. He had also threatened to kill himself on a previous occasion.

Dr David Bailey, a pathologist at Wycombe Hospital, said there was no evidence of alcohol in Mr Carpenter's body. Dr Bailey concluded from a 1.5cm groove in his neck and a small tear in his spleen that Mr Carpenter died from hanging.

Coroner Richard Hulett gave a verdict that Mr Carpenter took his own life and added: "On this day his behaviour certainly became very threatening and dangerous. It seems like to me that he was in the throes of an on-going depressive illness. This overwhelmed him and altered his mind very severely."