A mother of four was stabbed to death by an ex-soldier she met on the Facebook website just days after he had admitted a charge of assaulting her, an inquest heard.

Julie Sudlow, of Berry Croft, Abingdon, had secretly visited the home of Stewart Shaw in August last year. He was on bail awaiting sentencing for attacking her the previous month.

But the meeting ended in tragedy, when Shaw stabbed the 41-year-old twice in the head on Friday, August 7, and left her body at his house in Waterlooville, Hampshire.

Shaw, 45, then drove to Winchester and killed himself by jumping in front of a train, the inquest at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court heard yesterday.

Det Sgt Damon Kennard, of Hampshire Constabulary, said the couple had met online in October 2008.

As the relationship developed, they went on holiday together and Mrs Sudlow, who had worked in the restaurant at Millets Farm, Frilford, talked of getting married.

But on Saturday, July 18, police were called to Shaw’s home by Mrs Sudlow, who had barricaded herself in the bathroom after he punched her in the face.

After being arrested, he was released on bail, on condition that he did not contact Mrs Sudlow. However, he sent her a text message reading: “My blood is on your hands. See you in the next life.

This world sucks anyway.”

After Mrs Sudlow contacted police, Shaw was arrested and held in custody until he appeared before Portsmouth magistrates on July 29. He admitted a charge of assault and was again ordered not to contact Mrs Sudlow.

Police inquiries showed that Shaw had apparently travelled to Abingdon the next day.

The couple had then photographed themselves holding hands and kissing on holiday on the Isle of Wight.

Det Sgt Kennard said the day before her death, Mrs Sudlow had packed an overnight bag and told relatives she was heading north to visit a friend.

But, instead, she travelled to Hampshire to see Shaw. He repeatedly tried to phone Mrs Sudlow, after going to work in Southampton, but Det Sgt Kennard said records indicated she had hung up and diverted his calls to voicemail.

Shaw then told his boss his house had flooded and he needed to return home.

Neighbours later saw Shaw drive away from his bungalow at high speed.

“It is highly probable Julie Sudlow at that time lay dead within the address,” said Det Sgt Kennard.

He said Shaw may have thought about going on the run.

His and Mrs Sudlow’s mobile phones, the murder weapons and Shaw’s clothes have never been recovered. After travelling to Winchester, he phoned his estranged wife Donna, from whom he had separated in 2005, telling her: “Promise me you won’t take the girls to my house.”

He threw himself in front of a train from a railway bridge.

Officers investigating his death who went to Shaw’s home found blood stains in the hallway and Mrs Sudlow’s body wrapped in a duvet in a bedroom.

Det Sgt Kennard said just two days earlier, a colleague saw Shaw, who had attempted suicide while serving in the Royal Logistic Corps, staring “seemingly transfixed” near a railway line.

Recording a verdict of unlawful killing, coroner David Horsley said Mrs Sudlow would have died quickly from the stab wounds.

He told her family: “It is only in our wildest nightmare that we can comprehend the heartache and emotions you have undergone in the last months. I am so awfully, awfully sorry about what has happened to both Julie and Stewart and the consequences for yourselves.”

He recorded a verdict that Shaw had taken his own life.