A GRIEVING widower whose wife jumped to her death from the 74ft Carfax Tower after accruing £25,000 in debts has urged other people with money worries to seek help.

An inquest at Oxford Coroners’ Court today heard Patricia Stoute, 61, of Dunnock Way, Greater Leys, died instantly from multiple head and internal injuries after she leapt from Carfax Tower in the city centre on June 22 last year.

Her husband Kenneth Churchill-Stoute, 69, told the inquest his wife had concealed debts of about £25,000, which included loans and money owed on at least 14 credit cards and store cards.

He added: “She took out these loans to pay off other loans and let it all build up.

“She told me two months before she died she had these problems and said she’d let me down.

“But I told her she never let me down, she was fantastic person and I was proud to call her my wife.”

Following the inquest, a Citizens Advice Bureau spokesman urged anyone heavily in debt who felt overwhelmed by their worries to get in touch with the organisation.

Mr Churchill-Stoute said: “She was robbing Peter to pay Paul. Her debts were too big to handle – but if she got help I think we could have got through it.

“I really miss her. I urge people not to get into the same situation.”

Mrs Stoute worked part-time at Boots – most recently at Cowley retail park – earning just £6,000 a year, Mr Churchill Stoute said.

He added: “On the day she died she left the house saying she needed to do some shopping. I put the washing out, started dinner and one or two hours passed. I was worried.

“Then a policeman knocked on the door and told me.

“To this day I don’t know why she did it. She should have come and spoken to me.”

The inquest heard Mrs Stoute was diagnosed as an alcoholic in 2003 but only minor traces of alcohol were found in her blood when she died. Pathologist Dr Jaspreet Kaur told the hearing Mrs Stoute died instantly in the fall from multiple internal injuries and fractures to the skull and spine.

Jacqueline Martin, Oxford City Council temporary accommodation manager, described in a statement read out at the inquest seeing a woman hanging from a ledge on the tower then falling from view.

Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Gardiner recorded a verdict that Mrs Stoute took her own life.

He said: “It is clear she had considerable debts which she concealed from her husband.

“It is not necessary to establish motivation, but it may well be debts accrued may have had something to do with it.”

Mrs Stoute left behind a suicide note which included reference to her debts having nothing to do with her husband, he added.