Wife Takes Clothes Off Washing Line As Her Cheating Husband Burned In Garden Shed Only Yards Away

Continuing my occasional theme of a woman's love for her laundry, here is a story widely reported this week, that just takes my breath away. Actually, I was breathless because I was laughing so much, even though this is a terrible tale of tragedy and loss of life. Nevertheless, the woman's behaviour upon discovery of the main event is, I believe at least, entirely reasonable. You just have to have an understanding of a woman's love of laundry. So here is the news story reproduced from the Daily Telegraph...

Inquest of fireball 'suicide' judge begins

By Richard Savill
Last Updated: 2:30am BST 09/10/2007

A judge's "controlling" wife took clothes off a washing line as her cheating husband burned to death in a garden shed only yards away - less than 90 minutes after he had asked her for a divorce, an inquest heard yesterday. Judge AC, 58, died in a fireball in the shed at his 19th century farmhouse near Chard, Somerset, on the evening of July 29, 2001 - shortly after telling his wife J, 60, that he was leaving her for his 38-year-old mistress.

At the second inquest into the judge's mysterious death yesterday, neighbours told how Mrs C appeared surprisingly controlled after the blaze and immediately claimed her husband had committed suicide. She had helped take clothes off the washing line and closed windows in the couple's home as the shed continued to burn.

A gardener who went to the scene told the hearing: "I found it strange that if her husband was in the shed, she was bothered about the washing." Mrs C even became "upset" when a police officer told her they could not find a body in the blackened remains of the shed and she insisted he was in there, the inquest heard. She told one neighbour on the night of the fire how she had told her husband of 34 years: "You're not going to divorce me."

Mrs L, a neighbour who went to comfort Mrs C, told the hearing at Glastonbury Town Hall how she appeared convinced her husband was in the shed and had committed suicide. She added: "She was very controlled. She knew what she was saying, she knew what she was doing. That is very strange stuff to say to someone half an hour after your husband's been incinerated in a shed." Mrs L said: "She was adamant he was in there and that he had committed suicide. "While we were waiting for the fire brigade, J told me she had been told by A that he was having an affair. Mrs L added: "J's friend said to her 'Are you insured with Bob? Bob pays out very well for suicides'. I didn't hear her reply. "I thought that a very strange thing to talk about when your husband is being incinerated in a shed and the smoke hasn't even gone out."

The hearing continues.