Murder-Suicide Antidepressants 08/06/2005 England Woman Set Husband on Fire: Kills Self
 
 Summary:<br><br><!--StartFragment -->Paragraph 4 reads: &quot;<strong>She had been taking anti-depressants,</strong> sleeping pills and other tablets and James said she had tried to take her life previously and <strong>had suffered a worrying change in personality.&quot;<br /><br /></strong><a href="http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/men/news/s/161/161626_death_leap_mum_set_fire_to_husband_.html">http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/men/news/s/161/161626_death_leap_mum_set_fire_to_husband_.html</a> <br /><br /><br /><h4><strong>Death leap mum set fire to husband </strong></h4>A WOMAN poured petrol over her estranged husband and set fire to him before throwing herself off a motorway bridge.<br /><br />Sheila Dawson, 54, was devastated when husband Paul, also 54, left her, a double inquest heard.<br /><br />Their son James told the hearing: &quot;When my father left she was an absolute wreck. We were trying to keep things together for her.&quot;<br /><br />She had been taking anti-depressants, sleeping pills and other tablets and James said she had tried to take her life previously and had suffered a worrying change in personality.<br /><br />He said: &quot;She had been very emotional and upset and she had said that she would find a bridge and jump off. I could never imagine her being that angry that she would do that.&quot;<br /><br />The Manchester inquest heard how engineering salesman Paul was living with girlfriend Sandra Jefferson. He had gone back to the family home in Moston in September to collect a belt for his bad back.<br /><br />Mrs Dawson was thought to have thrown petrol on her husband and set him alight.<br /><br />Minutes later, she drove to the Manchester Road bridge over the M60 and threw herself into the path of a lorry.<br /><br />Statements from neighbours reported seeing Mr Dawson staggering around engulfed in flames before two workmen wrapped him in a dust sheet. <br /><br />Mrs Dawson died instantly of multiple injuries. Mr Dawson died in October from multiple organ failure caused by burns. The couple, who married in 1972, left two children.<br /><br />Manchester Coroner Leonard Gorodkin recorded an open verdict on Mr Dawson saying he was &quot;loathe to use&quot; an unlawful killing verdict. He recorded a suicide verdict on Mrs Dawson. <br /> 
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