A man stabbed his partner then turned the knife on himself as the couple’s children waited in a car outside, an inquest has heard.
A coroner concluded that Natalie Smith, 34, died of stab wounds to the abdomen, and her partner Craig Stewart, 36, had stabbed himself in the chest during an altercation at the couple’s Bristol home last November.
Dr Peter Harrowing delivered his conclusion during the inquest held at Avon Coroners’ Court yesterday.
He said Miss Smith, died at Southmead Hospital on November 9, as a result of unlawful killing, and Mr Stewart, who was declared dead upon arrival at the same hospital on November 8, died as a result of suicide, reports Bristol Live.
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A statement given to police by Miss Smith’s close friend, Danielle Luxton, was read by the court clerk, in which she described how the couple’s relationship had deteriorated.
She said: “I don’t think they had been getting on very well, I think they were staying together for the sake of the children.
“She [Miss Smith] had been seeing a guy she had known for about a year, although they had only met over the past five months. She told me she had feelings for him.”
In her statement, Ms Luxton explained that the night before the incident, on November 7, Miss Smith had stayed at Ms Luxton’s home overnight whilst the children remained with their father at home in Redfield.
She had left early on the morning of Thursday, November 8, in order to take the children to school, and returned to Ms Luxton’s address later that morning.
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Ms Luxton said: “She was going out to see the guy [later that morning] – I don’t know where she met him and I didn’t ask because it was none of my business.”
After Miss Smith returned at around 11am she largely spent time on her phone, speaking to Mr Stewart at least once, the court heard.
Miss Smith and Ms Luxton visited a nearby pub for one drink that afternoon before picking their children up from school, during which time Miss Smith asked if she could stay at her friend’s house again.
Ms Luxton agreed, and Miss Smith asked if she could go home to pick up some clothes.
Later that afternoon, Miss Smith drove home in her own car, with Ms Luxton in the passenger seat and her own two children, as well as Ms Luxton’s child, in the back.
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Miss Smith entered her home, and after several minutes Mr Stewart also arrived home from work and went into the property.
“After five to ten minutes I began to think they were just having a chat inside,” Ms Luxton explained. Just moments later, she explained, she saw Miss Smith open the front door.
Ms Luxton said: “I could see Natalie, she was shouting for help and she had blood all over her face. I saw her fall to the floor.”
After seeing Miss Smith, she rushed into the house and found her on the floor, covered in blood and asking her for water, the court heard.
As Ms Luxton moved towards the kitchen she said she looked into the living room and saw Craig ‘covered in blood.’
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“I ran out of the house in complete shock at what I had just seen,” she said. From there she rushed over to Miss Smith’s neighbour’s house, and urged her to call an ambulance shorty before 5pm.
An off-duty paramedic and neighbour, Mark Ashton, was the first medically-trained professional to arrive on the scene, after being alerted by another neighbour. In his statement, he noted seeing Miss Smith slumped on the floor between the stairs and the front door, where he found her to be conscious and talking.
He entered the living room where he found Mr Stewart lying on his front, unconscious and unresponsive. “It was obvious that he was extremely unwell,” Mr Ashton said. Knowing the ambulance was on its way, and ascertaining Mr Stewart was at that point in a more serious condition, he began to work in the living room, the court was told.
South Western Ambulance Service crews, Avon and Somerset Constabulary officers, and HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Services) teams arrived at the scene minutes later.
Miss Smith suffered a cardiac arrest before being placed in an ambulance, but was resuscitated and conveyed to Southmead Hospital.
She underwent emergency surgery but intensive care doctors deemed she had sustained an unsurvivable brain injury the following day.
She was removed from ventilation equipment late on the evening of Friday, November 9, and passed away a short while later.
Paramedics carried out extensive resuscitation work on Mr Stewart at his home in order to limit the impact of his injuries but he suffered significant blood loss and experienced a cardiac arrest in the ambulance on the way to Southmead Hospital. By the time of his arrival, it was deemed it would not be possible to resuscitate him.
Miss Smith was found by forensic pathologist Dr Russell Delaney to have sustained multiple stab wounds, both penetrative and lacerations, to the face, upper neck, upper back, and right thigh.
Mr Stewart sustained ‘multiple’ knife wounds to the chest and abdomen, which were found to be grouped into distinctive clusters – some of which had deeply penetrated the body and some of which were deemed ‘superficial’, the court heard.
With regard to these injuries, Dr Delaney described the pattern as ‘significant’, and said the appearance of clusters of injuries was ‘in keeping with a pattern of self-infliction’.
Dr Delaney explained the more superficial wounds were the result of ‘hesitation’ marks, which may have been inflicted before the deeper wounds.
Mr Stewart also sustained a number of injuries to the ‘grip area’ of his right hand, as well as lacerations to his left hand.
Unlike the injuries to Miss Smith’s hands, which were described as defensive wounds, Dr Delaney suggested the wounds to Mr Stewart’s right hand were consistent with the knife slipping as it was held.
The forensic pathologist confirmed none of the injuries found to have been sustained by Miss Smith were consistent with self-infliction.
DC Kitchener from Avon and Somerset Constabulary said, after thorough investigation, police had ruled out the involvement of any third party and said a kitchen knife had been recovered from the scene, upon which DNA was found matching both Miss Smith and Mr Stewart.
He explained that, apart from a single drink-driving conviction on Miss Smith’s record, neither Mr Stewart nor Miss Smith were known to the police.
DC Kitchener said: “Mr Stewart had assaulted Natalie Smith and has gone on to cause injury to himself, which led to both of their deaths.”
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