A pensioner from Netherton fatally stabbed himself three times in the chest after his girlfriend kicked him out of her Wollaston home.

An inquest heard how retired chemist Brian Smith, aged 72, had been living with his partner of five years, Jacqueline Roberts, in Park Road West at the time of his death in March this year. Despite her asking him to leave for several months, Mr Smith had refused, saying life would not be worth living without her.

After she asked him again on March 30th, the pair sat watching television together, when Mr Smith went to the kitchen and picked up a knife. In a statement read out at Black Country Coroner’s Court on Tuesday, Ms Roberts said:

“He went into the kitchen and, when I went in after him, he had his arm behind his back and I knew straight away he had a knife behind him. He moved his arm out so that I could see it.

"He didn’t threaten me but I was scared, so I grabbed my keys and my phone and ran out of the house.”

Ms Roberts called a friend, who then contacted police. She described Mr Smith as ‘needy and quite controlling’ – he used to take her phone and stop her from leaving the house, the inquest heard.

At around 9.30pm – less than 15 minutes before police arrived - Mr Smith called his friend of 30 years Tim Newey, claiming he had stabbed himself three times in the heart. He told him he was ‘going cold and light-headed’ before Mr Newey heard him fall to the floor and called 999.

Panicked neighbours took to social media, describing dramatic scenes as emergency services flooded the street. Police found Mr Smith lying on the floor of the back garden with stab wounds to his chest.

An officer attempted chest compressions and paramedics rushed Mr Smith to Russells Hall Hospital, where he was quickly pronounced dead. 

A post-mortem examination found Mr Smith had died from a ‘penetrating stab wound to the heart’ and the coroner recorded a verdict of suicide.