A mother of three whose death was initially ruled a suicide was in fact staged by her unfaithful husband, who incapacitated her before staging the scene and lying to police, a coroner has found.
Some 14 years after Helen Bird was found dead in the garage of her Blackmans Bay home in Tasmania, a coroner made the startling discovery about her suspected suicide on Friday.
Mrs Bird was found by her husband, Mark Bird, at around 11.30am on 8 July 2010.
Her death was initially ruled a suicide by a coroner in 2011, who concluded that no other person – including Mr Bird – had contributed to her death.
But coroner Robert Webster said this was not true. The verdict was that Mr Bird had ‘incapacitated’ the palliative care nurse by probably using toxic fumes.
Mr Webster found that Mr Bird caused her death by suffocation and made the scene look like a suicide by placing her phone, a photograph and a letter on a nearby bench in the garage.
“There is no evidence that Ms Bird mentioned or threatened suicide and there is no evidence of suicidal ideation,” Mr Webster said in his findings.
“There was therefore no reason for her to experiment with ropes or other methods of self-harm and that experiment failed, resulting in her accidental or unintentional death.”
Helen Bird was found dead at her Blackmans Bay home in 2010. Her death was initially ruled a suicide but a coroner ruled that her husband, Mark, was involved in her death. Image: Supplied
Mr Bird has never been charged in his wife’s death and ‘absolutely rejects’ claims that he was involved.
In his published decision, Mr Webster described Mr Bird as not only a lying witness but also an ‘untruthful person’.
“The evidence shows that Mrs Bird’s children were her life,” Mr Webster said.
“She would not have left them with someone (Mr Bird) who could not properly look after himself, let alone his children.”
The court was told that Mr Bird had told police that his wife was not a heavy drinker, but had said in a sworn statement that his wife had been drinking heavily on gin on the night of her death.
Mr Webster found that Mr Bird had also given false impressions about the true state of his marriage, including allegations of physical abuse and that the couple were experiencing “significant” financial stress.
At the time of his wife’s death, Mr Bird was having an affair with another woman.
Mr Bird – who claimed he had found his wife after returning home from a shopping trip – called and texted his wife a series of times in the morning in a “contrived” attempt to provide an alibi, the court heard.
Mr Webster. “Mr Bird was a much bigger person than Mrs Bird,” he said.
“He was stockier than she was and he was taller. So he was clearly stronger than she was.
“There is evidence that Mr Bird was verbally and physically aggressive, including comments about wanting to get rid of people he didn’t like, and that he was physically and verbally aggressive towards his family.”
Mr Webster said he was satisfied “given the exclusion of all other hypotheses and the evidence against Mr Bird that he was involved” in his wife’s death.
He also focused on the police investigation into Mrs Bird’s death, calling it “inadequate.”
“The investigating police should not accept what they are told or what is seen at the scene,” he said.
“Such a death should be treated as suspicious until the investigation conclusively proves otherwise.”
He offered his condolences to Mrs Bird’s family and friends who had felt her loss.