Husband who killed Alzheimer’s sufferer wife and then attempted suicide ‘couldn’t cope with her illness’
Angus Mayer, 86, was hit by a train just hours after killing wife Margaret, 85, in their bedroom
A DEVOTED husband killed his Alzheimer's sufferer wife before throwing himself in front of a train - saying: "I didn't want her to suffer any more", an inquest heard yesterday.
An inquest heard he could not cope with his wife's illness - and killed her with a bedside lamp.
Retired salesman Mr Mayer was found under a train at Cardiff Central train station in a suicide attempt. He died seven weeks later.
As he lay underneath the train he calmly told a police officer: "I've killed my wife. She has Alzheimer's. I didn't want her to suffer any more.
"I just want to die. Let me die. I'm going to be spending the rest of my life in prison.
"My wife suffers with dementia and incontinence. She told me if I ever put her in a home she'd kill herself.
"I told her it would be quick then I'd throw myself under a train." Mr Mayer - known as Gus - had travelled three miles to the train station to slide down the platform as a London Paddington to Swansea train pulled in.
He lay on the track where it crushed his leg. He told a train conductor he wanted the train to run over his head adding: "But I couldn't even do that right."
He later told paramedics: "My wife took a lot of killing. I just wanted to suffocate her. There was a lot of blood." Police rushed to the Mayer's house in Heath, Cardiff, and forced their way in to find Mrs Mayer dead in the couple's bed in July.
The inquest heard she had suffered from Alzheimer's for four years and was progressively getting worse.
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Pathologist Dr Ryk James said Mrs Mayer suffered eight "blunt force" injuries to her head and face, while a bedside lamp with its base stained in blood was found nearby.
Dr James said: "There was at least five blows to the right side of the face, and at least three to the left side.
"She suffered splits, fractures and a severe brain injury.
"The injuries are in keeping with being caused by the lamp seen at the scene." The pathologist added injuries to Mrs Mayer's hands meant she may have raised them to protect her face.
Mr Mayer was charged with murder while seriously ill in hospital, but died from his injuries seven weeks later.
The coroner was told the couple's six children had become increasingly concerned about the effect the caring role was having on Mr Mayer, four years after his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
His daughter Cath said "he had lost his enthusiasm for life and the things he once enjoyed." The family raised concerns in February and Mrs Mayer started attending a day centre twice a week.
But in the week before her death, the children again contacted Cardiff council about their fears.
The council's adult services manager told the inquest there was nothing to suggest Mrs Mayer was in danger and, in hindsight, nothing would have been done differently.
The couple's sons questioned why the wider family was not contacted in early July when there were concerns, saying the council was "passive rather than proactive" in involving them.
Their son Andrew, a BBC cameraman, said: "The council were passive rather than proactive. We don't think the system is fit for purpose." In a letter to the inquest, their children said their father "wanted to enjoy independent living, but caught in the fog of fatigue. He gave up".
The letter says that the family "will never know" if their parents would be alive today if more had been done.
Coroner Andrew Barkley recorded a verdict of unlawful killing.
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