A MAN bludgeoned his partner to death before torching himself in a garden shed, an inquest heard. (Wednesday).
Malcolm Stride’s charred body was found outside their Kennet Place home in Burghfield Common on August 28 last year.
The horror unfolded at a hearing in Newbury yesterday (Wednesday) into the deaths of the 65-year-old model railway engine enthusiast and his 69-year-old partner of 19 years, Rosina Tillyer.
Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford heard how both had to be indentified by medical records.
Neighbour Richard Sayer described hearing an “explosive noise” at around 8.15pm and ran outside to see smoke and flames billowing from the shed.
Retained Mortimer firefighter Julian Eggleton said flames were leaping 20ft into the air by the time he arrived to discover the body inside.
Meanwhile, his colleagues had discovered Ms Tillyer lying, unconscious, inside the house surrounded by a pool of blood and with a copper engineer’s hammer by her side.
She died later of massive head injuries at Reading’s Royal Berkshire Hospital, the inquest heard and defensive injuries showed she had tried to ward off her attacker
Post mortem tests revealed no alcohol or significant drugs in their systems, Mr Bedford said.
However, Dr Christopher Strang of Mortimer Surgery revealed that Mr Stride had a long history of intermittent depression and anxiety.
In addition, Mr Stride had been suffering from leaukaemia, although chemotherapy had sent the disease into remission, the inquest heard.
Detective Sergeant Sarah Lawson told the coroner how Mr Stride’s fellow hobbyist Mike Jones had described how his friend had expressed an intent to kill himself and Miss Tillyer if the disease recurred.
She added: “At the time he thought it was just idle talk. With hindsight, it was more sinister.”
Det Sgt Lawson said police concluded that Mr Stride had killed his partner and then himself and the case file was now closed.
An examination of Mr Stride’s laptop revealed he had been researching apparent methods of killing or suicide, she added, while Miss Tillyer had been using her laptop for online shopping in the minutes before her violent death.
Mr Bedford ruled that Mr Stride had taken his own life while Miss Tillyer had been unawlfully killed.

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