A husband killed himself after a botched plot to give his wife a lethal overdose - instead causing her to slip into a three-year coma, an inquest heard.
Serial liar Tony Lindstrom, 44, had researched using insulin as a ‘silent killer’ and had tried to take out an insurance policy on his 56-year-old wife Diana's life before injecting her with the medicine.
But when he failed to administer enough to kill her, he panicked and decided to take his own life by injecting himself with insulin, the inquest at Alton Magistrates' Court in Hampshire was told.
Both dead: Serial liar Tony Lindstrom (left), 44, had researched using insulin as a 'silent killer' and had tried to take out an insurance policy on his wife Diana's (right) life before injecting her with the medicine
After he was found dead in his car, his wife was discovered unconscious in her bed and although she was taken to hospital doctors had no choice but to declare that she was in a vegetative state.
She remained in a coma for three years after Mr Lindstrom's death in February 2010, until her family and doctors decided to withdraw her life-sustaining treatment.
Mrs Lindstrom died peacefully earlier this year in February, with her cause of death being given as an insulin overdose and a hypoxic brain injury - caused by a lack of oxygen.
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Detective Sergeant Simon Casey told the inquest into her death that after administering the drug, possibly overnight in late January 2010, Mr Lindstrom had panicked.
‘He injected Diana with insulin but he didn't put enough in to kill her and not knowing what to do he took the coward's way out in the end,’ he said.
Det Sgt Casey told the inquest that Mr Lindstrom had researched insulin on the internet, including checking if it would show up on an autopsy and ‘insulin as a silent killer’.
Scene: Mrs Lindstrom was found unresponsive at her home in Church Crookham, Hampshire (pictured)
The dog behaviourist had ordered the drug from a pharmacy in Canada and Det Sgt Casey said he believed Mr Lindstrom had tested his weapon on a family pet.
‘With the research done on the computer he thought death would be instantaneous - the body would close down,’ he said.
‘I believe he tested the insulin on a dog the week before. The healthy dog died of a seizure while he was at work. It may have been a test case and looking into his past he was not a truthful man.’
Mr Lindstrom's own inquest in April 2010 revealed he had invented a fantasy life for himself - claiming he was an ex-National Hockey League ice hockey star, a Canadian, and a successful author.
Mr Lindstrom, who had changed his surname from Bannister by deed poll, had even told his father Michael Bannister that he had a wife and three children in his American home.
He also showed him doctored pictures of the ‘family’ that he had downloaded from the internet.
He had moved to France to serve with the French Foreign Legion as a 21-year-old before becoming a dog behaviourist in America and moving back to the UK when he was deported for fraud.
The inquest heard how Mr Lindstrom had tried to take out life insurance for his wife, getting a neighbour to pretend to be her so that he could buy it ‘as a birthday present’.
Mrs Lindstrom, who worked as an accountant in London, already had life insurance through work - but the inquest heard that Mr Lindstrom was short of funds as his business had failed.
‘He needed to make money and Diana, his wife, got in the way,’ Det Sgt Casey said.
He added that he believed that Mrs Lindstrom was already in a coma when her husband rang her workplace to say that she was ill.
He even invited a neighbour to see a ‘sleeping’ Mrs Lindstrom in her bedroom and told her that he was going to ask a doctor for help - only to tell the GP that his wife of 10 years was depressed, rather than reveal that she was in fact unconscious.
'This is a calm, calculated man who designs things for his own ends to the extent where he is prepared to kill his wife'
North Hampshire Coroner Andrew Bradley
‘He was a Walter Mitty character,’ said North Hampshire Coroner Andrew Bradley, in reference to the character in James Thurber’s eponymous short story, published in 1939.
He added that Mr Lindstrom had ‘manipulated everything to his own advantage.’
‘I deal with all kinds of appalling things, people who stab each other and hit each other over the head, but this is a calm, calculated man who designs things for his own ends to the extent where he is prepared to kill his wife,’ said Mr Bradley.
Mr Bradley recorded a narrative verdict over Mrs Lindstrom's death, explaining that she was found unresponsive at her home in Church Crookham, Hampshire.
‘She remained in a permanent vegetative state until life support was withdrawn at Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow,’ he said.
‘I find this a particularly sad matter for Diana and her family. It has come to a conclusion now and I am sorry it has been this way.’