A Network Rail boss committed suicide with his wife after police were told he had taken bribes

A Network Rail boss committed suicide with his wife after taking luxury bribes from two corrupt company executives, it can now be reported.

Anthony Burgess, 45, was showered with tens of thousands of pounds in cash, along with Porsche car parts and five star holidays in return for deals with rail contractors Peter Sale and Anthony Whittington.

The rail manager and his wife Marian, 51, took their own lives after NR alerted police to the scam.

Mr Burgess was sacked from his £75,000-a-year job overseeing the refurbishment of company offices several months earlier following an internal inquiry.

Sale, 50, of Tadworth, Surrey, and Whittington, 48, of Abridge, Essex, both separately masterminded years of corruption with Mr Burgess.

Their convictions earlier this year can now be reported after prosecutors confirmed restrictions had been lifted following the acquittals of three other defendants cleared of corruption.

Mr Burgess had been under investigation for alleged financial irregularities when he was found dead along with his wife at the couple's home, in a cul-de-sac in Clavering, Essex, in January 2009.

Whittington, a director of WWP Consultants Limited, is serving a 12-month jail term after being sentenced at Blackfriars Crown Court on September 2, while Sale, managing director of Sale Service and Maintenance Limited, had a 12-month term suspended for two years after admitting his part in the scam at Woolwich Crown Court.

Sue Patten, head of central fraud at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "This prosecution shows that corruption is a serious criminal offence as well as being grossly unfair to hard-working and honest businesses up and down the country which rightly expect transparency and fair play in procurement exercises.

"This was a thorough investigation carried out by British Transport Police after being contacted by Network Rail."

PA