A WOMAN has been told to "live your life as happily as you can" at the conclusion of an inquest last week.

Susan Thorpe’s husband hanged himself last Valentine’s Day to "make his wife pay" for threatening to leave him, a coroner heard.

Mrs Thorpe told the coroner how her husband of 30 years, Mervyn (pictured), was aggressive and verbally abusive. She said she was "fed up" with him.

When she finally stood up to her abusive spouse, he threatened to hang himself and said he would haunt her for the rest of her life. He sent his wife one last message and then carried out his threat at the family home in Odiham.

The inquest heard that Mrs Thorpe felt responsible for her husband’s death. But Coroner Andrew Bradley she could not let herself "live a life under threat".

Accompanied by her son Gavin, Mrs Thorpe described the final months of her marriage to the inquest: “I was just fed up with all the verbal abuse and the aggression. He would constantly phone when I was out and ask me how long I was going to be. When would I be back home?

“Last summer I had a weekend away with my sisters, and from the time I left until the time I came back he kept ringing me and spoiled it, so I did not have a good time.

“By the end of it he had a fishing holiday – the holiday of a lifetime for him, that he dreamed about having – and I was so excited about him going that I ran around getting everything he needed.

“Afterward we had an argument and he began arguing with my son as soon as he walked through the door. It was not necessary and he became angry that I defended my son. So he said "drop dead"".

She described the harrowing exchanges as the last straw, saying: “That was the icing on the cake. I got to such a low that he started telling me I was ill, and I had to go to the doctor, and he started blaming it on the menopause.

“I wasn’t in love with him any more and I hadn’t been for a long time. By the end of January I told him I was going to leave.”

The coroner also heard that, in the days leading up to his death, Mrs Thorpe’s abusive husband frequently threatened to hang himself and then stormed out of the house.

He was reported to have told Mrs Thorpe: “I will make you pay for what you have done to me. I am going to hang myself, and you are going to find me, and it’s going to haunt you for the rest of your life.”

Suicide was not his only threat. Mr Thorpe, who was 54, would also tell his wife he would move in with another woman, to make her jealous.

His threats came to a head on February 14. Before taking his own life. He snorted the class A drug cocaine copiously, and got drunk.

In his final message, he said: “I love you forever. Sue, you have broken my heart, but it is not your fault.

“I am going to a better place. Happy Valentine’s Day. I hope we meet again some day.”

The couple spoke on the phone and Mrs Thorpe said she would call the police. Mr Thorpe replied, ‘too late’.

Police found the body at home shortly before 3.30pm. He was pronounced dead at 5.02pm.

A toxicology report later confirmed that there was a fatal level of cocaine in Mr Thorpe’s system.

Coroner Bradley said: “It is significant that there was cocaine toxicity. He took enough cocaine to kill himself if the hanging didn’t.”

Recording a verdict of suicide, the coroner added: “There is a difficulty in that you were a victim of abuse. Mervyn was not handling whatever it was, and could not cope with the breakdown of the relationship, or his own feelings.

“He was not prepared to compromise. After threat, after threat, after threat, he eventually took the matter into his own hands.

“After a fairly vindictive and punishing conversation – or several conversations – he hanged himself at home.

“There is difficulty in trying to justify it in any way at all. If you had stayed with him you would have been living a lie. He took the matter into his own hands, but you cannot live a life under threat.”

The support expressed for Mrs Thorpe by the coroner has been echoed online, with comments such as, ‘enjoy the rest of your life in peace’ and ‘live the rest of your life with a big smile on your face, because now you are free’.

Anyone troubled by these issues, can contact Samaritans for confidential advice.