MET Police Inspector Gary Weddell shot dead his mother-in-law before killing himself an inquest has been hearing today (Tuesday). The events which led up to his death and that of Traute Maxfield in Gustard Wood on January 12 this year happened while Wedde
MET Police Inspector Gary Weddell shot dead his mother-in-law before killing himself an inquest has been hearing today (Tuesday).
The events which led up to his death and that of Traute Maxfield in Gustard Wood on January 12 this year happened while Weddell, aged 47, was out on bail accused of the murder of his wife Sandra.
Weddell had faked his wife's suicide claiming that she was having an extra-marital affair and suffering from mental health problems. But detectives did not believe his story and charged him with murder after discovering injuries to her body and that a suicide email she had supposedly written was composed by the police officer.
The hearing which opened in Dunstable this morning heard that Traute Maxfield had successfully applied for a "residency order" which meant the couple's three children could live with her son.
Weddell, who was granted bail last July at Ipswich Crown Court after a psychiatrist reported that he did not pose a suicide risk, was found dead at the Broomhills Shooting Club near Markyate on Saturday, January 12. He had been taking clay pigeon shooting lessons there and is believed to have stolen the gun which was found beside his body.
At 5.20pm on the same day, officers went to Traute Maxfield's home and found her body in a room off the hallway. She had suffered a shotgun wound to the upper left leg and to the neck.
Weddell had been seen having a pint of beer in the nearby Cross Keys pub on the lunchtime of the previous day and had been seen to leave the pub carrying a holdall and walking towards Traute Maxfield's home.
The inquest continues.
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