The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
The body of a teacher killed by her husband lay undiscovered for nearly a fortnight, an inquest was told this week.
Police who searched the home of a missing primary school teacher took two days to discover her body, the inquest heard on Tuesday.
Officers carried out an initial search of the home of Kanwal Bernice William (50) who was reported missing after her husband Lawrence was found hanged at their five-bedroomed house at Colleys Gate, Lutton.
The inquest was told that the first search of the property failed to reveal her body and as a result police called in a specialist team which carried out a detailed examination.
The hearing at Boston was told that the teacher’s body was eventually found hidden inside a storage room. The body is thought to have lain there for nearly a fortnight. Mrs William, pictured, was last seen on March 25, the day before Mother’s Day.
In the days leading up to his death Mr William (49) told their sons that their mother was staying with friends and sent messages from her mobile phone purporting to be from her.
Their youngest son Ben (19) who lived at the family home, told the hearing that his parents had argued and his dad had been accused of having an affair.
“Dad seemed to be taking it as he was guilty. He had been cheating and he had been caught.”
He said his mother feared they faced bankruptcy as they could not meet the mortgage payments on their £400,000 home and she spoke of having a new life without her husband.
Ben told the inquest he believed his father had killed his mother.
He said: “Things began to add up that dad must have killed mum.
“Mum had done nothing wrong. She did everything for my dad, my brother and me. She didn’t deserve what happened to her.”
Ben described his father as a loving and caring dad.
He said that in the days after his mother went missing his father was drinking heavily and was twice arrested for drink driving.
The police investigation began on April 7 after the couple’s elder son Joe discovered the body of his father.
Det Insp Karl Whiffen of Lincolnshire Police said Mrs William was declared an at risk missing person after her husband’s body was found.
After the initial search failed, a more intensive search began and she was found inside a room used for storage.
“The earliest we could get a specialist search team was April 8.”
She was found on the second day of the search. Det Insp Whiffen said “Significant efforts had been made to hide her body. Her legs were wrapped in a jacket. A black bin liner was placed over her feet.”
He said the body was covered with a cloth and a fluorescent jacket.
The officer said that if Lawrence William had been found alive, he would have been arrested in connection with the death of his wife.
“We cannot be conclusive as to the exact circumstances of Kanwal’s death but in my opinion the threshold for a criminal charge would have been met. The exact charge cannot be ascertained.”
Pathologist Mike Biggs said that an examination of the body of Mrs William revealed minor injuries but he was unable to ascertain a cause of death.
Lincolnshire coroner Paul Cooper recorded an open verdict into the death of Mrs William and a suicide verdict on her husband.
Addressing their two sons he said: “Something obviously happened between mother and father. She is the truly unfortunate victim in this.
If the father had survived he would have been arrested and charged.
“I cannot look at the medical evidence for help. The only conclusion I believe I can come to in relation to your mother is an open verdict. We will never really know how she came to her death.”
Mrs William was a committed Christian and a regular churchgoer. She was the daughter of a former Archbishop of Pakistan.
The family originally lived in London before moving to Lincolnshire in 2007. She worked as a teaching assistant before gaining a degree in education and then qualifying as a primary school teacher.
