City broker found dead with wreath

A City executive was found dead in her bedroom with a wreath above her head, an inquest was told yesterday. Her former boyfriend, Timothy Brockman, 32, was hanging from a beam with stab wounds in his chest and throat.

Mr Brockman, a commodities dealer of Wimbledon, south London, was found at the Fulham home of Sophia Kneen, 30, an oil broker, in October last year. He had left a local pub saying his plan for the evening was 'murder then suicide'.

The Hammersmith coroner, Dr John Burton, recorded a verdict that Mr Brockman killed himself. An open verdict was recorded on Ms Kneen, a pathologist having said that she died from compression of the chest and neck while being restrained.