Antiques dealer killed by opportunist thief

MURDERED antiques dealer Carolyne Ann Jackson was almost certainly killed by an opportunist thief who followed her home after she withdrew £500 from a cashpoint, an inquest heard yesterday.

Buckinghamshire coroner Richard Hulett recorded a verdict of unlawful killing on Miss Jackson, 50, of Berghers Hill, Wooburn Common, who was found dead at her home in April 1997.

The inquest heard she had been tied up after being beaten and almost certainly died of asphyxia before she was found by a neighbour two days later.

Det Supt Alan Partridge, of Thames Valley Police, told the inquest Miss Jackson withdrew £500 from the

NatWest Bank cashpoint machine in Penn Road, Beaconsfield at about 9.30pm on Friday, April 11, on her return from Hertfordshire before driving home.

He said when she had arrived home she telephoned a friend to say she had arrived safely but almost immediately after that, as she ferried items from her car into her secluded home, she was attacked.

The inquest heard that two months before her murder, Miss Jackson had telephoned neighbour Peter Soutar as she was driving home saying she thought she was being followed.

Mr Soutar waited for her outside her front door, but no-one was seen to be following her as she arrived home. The police were alerted but nobody was traced.

Forensic pathologist Dr Vesna Djurovic said a post-mortem showed Miss Jackson died from positional asphyxia caused by laying, probably unconscious, face down on her kitchen floor.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.