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A husband killed his wife and himself after he discovered she wasn't a virgin when they married, an inquest was told yesterday.

Roger Goswell, 66, stabbed 63-year-old Susan to death at their home before smashing his car into a tree when she finally revealed her 46-year secret.

Roger and Susan Goswell (Pic:INS)

Just weeks before the tragedy, the wealthy retired property developer had been discharged from a psychiatric hospital after a suicide attempt - against the wishes of his worried family.

Relatives told the hearing they had begged doctors not to release him because he was mentally ill with a history of violence and had already made threats to kill his wife.

The couple's eldest daughter Sarah Bevan said: "Perhaps if people had taken things more seriously then maybe they would still be here today." In an email to health chiefs, she wrote that she did not want her dad to be "another front page story" involving a patient who should not have been released.

Sarah's sister Rebecca Merrick told the inquest how her dad vowed to finish off Susan with an elderflower bottle after she told him she had slept with another man before they wed in 1961.

She added: "He said he felt upset that my mother wasn't a virgin. He felt he had his heart broken."

And Mr Goswell's sister Marie King said: "I'm surprised that my brother was not sectioned, having made a threat to his kill his wife."

Police said the couple had a tempestuous marriage but finding out his wife was not a virgin when they married tipped an already disturbed Mr Goswell over the edge.

He tried but failed to gas himself in his car at their home in West Chiltington, West Sussex, last November. He was taken to hospital then transferred to a Priory Clinic in Hove, East Sussex.

Mr Goswell was discharged on December 17. Three days later, Susan called police, claiming he had threatened to kill her.

On December 23, he ploughed his Smart car into a tree and died that night.

Officers later found his wife's bloodsoaked body in the lounge of their luxury home. The hearing continues.