A MAN who killed his partner before taking his own life at a remote farmhouse near Machynlleth had believed she was having an affair, an inquest has heard.

Police found the bodies of Tracy Cockrell and Nigel McGrath in April at the farmhouse in Llanwrin where they had lived for just four months.

An inquest heard that the couple had moved to Wales from Yorkshire for a fresh start, but Mr McGrath suspected that Miss Cockrell, a grandmother-of-seven, had been having an affair on a return to Yorkshire, despite Miss Cockrell insisting that was not true.

Powys coroner Andrew Barkley heard that Miss Cockrell, 51, and 45-year-old Mr McGrath had started arguing regularly after Mr McGrath made the accusation of cheating against Miss Cockrell, who told friends that Mr McGrath was a “bully”.

Miss Cockrell’s sister said that Mr McGrath had told her husband that he “could throttle” Miss Cockrell after he claimed she had cheated on him, despite Miss Cockrell’s denials and the man he claimed she was cheating with also denying that anything had happened.

Mr Barkley heard from Miss Cockrell’s daughter, Adele Johnson, that Mr McGrath had become “jealous and controlling” in the lead up to the incident in April.

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