Inquest hears of Moroccan tragedy

A GRIEVING husband took his own life just days after his wife died falling from a window in their holiday home, an inquest heard.

Roger Lamb was overcome with grief after his wife Tilly tumbled 60 feet from their apartment window in August last year while investigating a noisy disturbance on the floors below.

The couple, orginally from Pensham near Pershore, had been staying at the Moroccan holiday resort of Essaouira when they were disturbed in their sleep by revellers celebrating the Islamic festival of Ramadan.

After hearing banging on the door Mrs Lamb leaned out of their third storey window to see what was going on and then climbed onto the balustrade in front of the window before losing her balance and falling onto the street below.

Mrs Lamb later died in hospital of multiple injuries leaving her husband to break the news to his children and other family members.

But in the days following Mrs Lamb's death, Mr Lamb struggled to cope with the tragedy and attempted to drown himself by filling a rucksack with stones and jumped into the sea only to be rescued by fishermen in the area.

But five days after the death of his wife, Mr Lamb died after he fell down a hotel stairwell in front of shocked tourists.

Coroner David Ridley sitting at Trowbridge Coroner's Court recorded verdicts of accidental death for Mrs Lamb and that Mr Lamb took his own life while suffering from depression.

The inquest also heard how the couple had endured marital difficulties in the five years before their deaths. After being made redundant in 2010, Mr Lamb took a job in New Zealand but his wife had told friends she was reluctant to join him.

Mrs Lamb later told a doctor she had felt threatened by her husband on more than one occasion and had written down details of her feelings to her sister, Charlotte Sebag-Montefiore.

But Mrs Sebag-Montefiore told the coroner that although the couple had a turbulent marriage, Roger had not been violent towards his wife.

Mrs Sebag-Montefoire and her husband Rupert travelled to Morocco to see a shocked Roger after Tilly's death and said on the morning of his death he had began to improve.

"He was talking about going back and trying to get flights and things," she told the coronor.

After eating breakfast on August 22, Roger had gone to fetch his swimming trunks as they planned to spend a day by the pool but then Mrs Sebag-Montefiore was alerted to his fall after hearing a shout from a hotel staff member.

A statement issued on behalf of the guardians of the couple's children said Tilly and Roger were loving parents.

"Today's proceedings bring to an end what has been a harrowing period for the families of Tilly and Roger," it read.

"They were devoted and loving parents who succeeded in bringing up their lovely children and the future of their children will remain the principle concern of both their families. We pray Tilly and Roger may now rest in peace."

Regional news »