Husband kills wife then leaps in front of train in Marston Green

Nov 25 2009 by Nick McCarthy, Birmingham Mail

A BIRMINGHAM mum-of-two was stabbed to death by her estranged husband who “could not live without her” and threw himself in front of a train, an inquest heard.

A jury at Birmingham Coroners Court recorded a verdict of unlawful killing on Helen Findlay, who was stabbed 11 times in the chest with a kitchen knife and attacked around the head with a hammer at her former marital home.

They also found that her estranged husband, Mark Findlay, aged 41, walked the short 75 metre distance to Marston Green train station shortly after the attack and took his own life by jumping in front of a high speed train.

Mrs Findlay, aged 36, was discovered on February 17 when police went to Holly Lane, Marston Green, after finding a birth certificate in Mr Findlay’s back pocket after he had taken his own life.

Officers forced entry to the house, which had its curtains drawn and two cars on the drive, after seeing smudges on walls and piles of clothes through frosted glass.

Mr Findlay had locked the house up and left the family’s two pet Labrador dogs in the garden.

The inquest heard that police found Mrs Findlay’s body on the lounge floor. They also found letters to family members, an open train timetable, a hammer, a 12cm long kitchen knife and a half-eaten McDonalds breakfast on a table.

The couple, who ran a printing business together and had two children. Joshua aged 13 and Holly, six, split up before Christmas last year.

They had a brief reconciliation during Christmas, but Helen had left the family home and was living in Stechford.