Paranoid husband killed his wife before taking his own life after hiring private investigator

A man paranoid his wife was cheating on him killed her before taking his own life, an inquest has heard.

David Boulter strangled his wife Deborah, aged 53, in their home in Mapperley, Nottinghamshire, after he convinced himself she was having an affair with a family friend.

An inquest heard that the 60-year-old had hired a private investigator to look into his belief that she was cheating on him. But after they discovered no evidence that she was, on October 9, 2023, Mr Boulter smothered his wife.

He then rang his son, telling him that he was going to end his life and that his money and possessions were now his, reports Nottinghamshire Live. After the 27 minute phone call, his son unsuccessfully tried to reach other relatives for an update on Mr Boulters wellbeing before alerting the East Midlands Ambulance Service along with Nottinghamshire Police.

DC Rebecca Hopson, the Nottinghamshire Police detective who investigated the case, told assistant coroner Nathanael Hartley's inquest that officers had found an awful scene at the property.

"They have searched for David as at the time that is who the concern was for," the detective said. "They have located a person in bed, who they initially thought was David, but on removing the covers they found it to be Deb."

Officers then saw a light in an outbuilding at the property, where they found Mr Boulter's body, DC Hopson said. The officer said that despite the quick police response and CPR on the pair, they were pronounced dead shortly afterwards.

The police later discovered that Mr Boulter had become paranoid that his wife was having an affair with a friend. This was completely unfounded, but Mr Boulter had confronted his partner about his suspicions, spoke to estate agents about selling their home, and even instructed a private investigator.

The investigators worked from September 27 to October 8 and found nothing, the inquest heard, but Mr Boulter wanted them to keep looking. Detectives also discovered that Mr Boulter had been searching online for ways to tell if someone was cheating, which included results on lie detector tests and videos on body language.

DC Hopson explained that CCTV and neighbour interviews showed that no one else had entered the property between the last sightings of the pair on Sunday, October 8 and their deaths. A post-mortem examination of Mrs Boulter showed she had a number of injuries to the head and face, with lip and tongue injuries implying she had been smothered, the inquest heard.

The doctor who carried out the examination added: "These injuries are consistent with pressure being applied to the mouth and jaw". The medic added these could have been from being pushed against the bed or having an object like a pillow pushed against her head.

Mr Boulter had died by hanging, and had bruises to his arm that could have been sustained during an altercation between the couple. He had been through bouts of depression and had expressed suicidal ideations before, the inquest was told.

He had been given antidepressants but was not referred to mental health services, according to his GP. Concluding the inquest, the assistant coroner found Mr Boulter had unlawfully killed his partner Deborah.

"I find on the balance of probabilities that David carried out an intentional act resulting in her suffocating," Mr Hartley said, adding that this was either by pushing her into the bed or using something like a pillow. The coroner concluded that Mr Boulter had taken his own life through asphyxiation.

He added: "This is a desperately sad case. I would like to offer my condolences to the friends and family of Deb and David."