Husband found dead 10 years after killing wife, burying her in garden and lying to family in bid to cover up her death

Thomas Flanagan was found dead by a neighbour, an inquest heard. He was jailed for 11 years in 2014 for the manslaughter of his 57-year-old wife Elaine, who he had throttled during a drunken row. An inquest at Bolton Coroner’s Court heard he spent five-and-a-half years in prison, before being released on licence, and had lived alone in a flat on Rathen Avenue, Ince, Wigan, since 2020. His neighbour Anne Heyes said he kept himself to himself, was very quiet, never caused any issues and rarely had visitors.

On February 21, she saw Mr Flanagan’s front door was ajar but thought nothing of it. She went to pick up a neighbour from Wigan town centre and realised the door was still open when she returned, so went to check on Mr Flanagan. The inquest heard she found him collapsed, so shouted for her husband and called 999.

Emergency services attended, but Mr Flanagan, 66, was confirmed to have died. His medical cause of death was recorded as suspension by ligature. Toxicology tests revealed only nicotine and caffeine. A police investigation did not find signs of anyone else being involved with Mr Flanagan's death. The inquest heard Mr Flanagan had a past medical history of depression from 1984, but had not raised any mental health concerns with his GP in recent years.

Police were called to his home on January 15 when he was breaking things, shouting, and seeing and hearing things there were not there. Emergency services forced their way in and took him to Wigan Infirmary as a safe place, after deciding that he did not have capacity. Tests were carried out and the suspected diagnosis was acute confusion or delirium secondary to alcohol, the inquest heard. He was assessed on January 19 and was not displaying signs of ongoing confusion or agitation.

The inquest heard Mr Flanagan said he had always been depressed, but rated his mood as seven out of 10 that day, with 10 being the best. It was decided he could be discharged from hospital and would contact his probation officer about counselling. Coroner Michael Pemberton recorded he died by suicide.

Mr Flanagan had been married to Elaine for 20 years. They were described as “isolated” and were seen daily pushing a wheelbarrow to a supermarket for cut-price carrots to feed the horses they kept in a field near their home. Liverpool Crown Court heard he was a gambling addict and throttled Mrs Flanagan in July 2014 after she hid his car keys and credit card in a bid to stop him gambling. He buried her in a shallow grave in the back garden at their home on Wigan Road, Leigh, where her badly decomposed body was discovered almost a month later.

Her friends and family asked about her and he told a string of lies about where she was. However, the court heard he drank every day following her death and eventually confessed to a friend – while drunk – that he had killed her. He denied murder and was jailed for 11 years for manslaughter.

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