A mother-of-three whose death was initially ruled a suicide was actually staged by her unfaithful husband, who incapacitated her before setting the stage and lying to police, a coroner has found.
About fourteen years after Helen Bird was found dead in the garage of her Blackmans Bay home in Tasmania, a coroner made the surprising discovery on Friday about her suspected suicide.
Mrs. Bird was found by her husband, Mark Bird, around 11:30 a.m. on July 8, 2010.
Her death was initially ruled a suicide by a coroner in 2011, who found that no other person – including Mr Bird – had contributed to her death.
But coroner Robert Webster said this was not true. Mr Bird’s ruling had ‘disabled’ the palliative care nurse by likely using toxic fumes.
Mr. Webster discovered that Mr. Bird caused her death by asphyxiation and made the scene look like a suicide by placing her phone, a photo and a letter on a nearby bench in the garage.
“There is no evidence that Ms Bird had 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 harming herself, and that experiment failed, resulting in her death by accident or misadventure.”
Helen Bird was found dead in 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 he was involved.
In his published decision, Mr Webster described Mr Bird not only as an untruthful witness, but also as an ‘untruthful person’.
“The evidence establishes that Mrs. Bird’s children were her life,” Mr. Webster said.
‘She would not have left them with someone (Mr Bird) who was unable to properly care for himself, let alone his children.’
The court was told that Mr Bird told police his wife was not a heavy drinker, but said in an affidavit that his wife had been drinking gin heavily 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 violence 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 found his wife after returning home from a shopping trip – made a series of calls and texts to his wife in the morning in a “contrived” attempt to provide an alibi, the court said. Mr. Webster.
“Mr. Bird was a much bigger person than Mrs. Bird,” he said.
‘He was stockier than her and he was taller. So he was clearly stronger than her.
‘There is evidence that Mr Bird may have been verbally and physically aggressive, including comments that he wanted to get rid of people he did not like, and that he felt physical and verbal aggression 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 took aim at the police investigation into Ms Bird’s death, calling it ‘inadequate’.
“Investigating police should not accept what they are told or what appears on the scene,” he said.
“Such a death should be treated as a suspicious death until investigation conclusively proves otherwise.”
He offered his condolences to Mrs Bird’s family and friends who had felt her loss.