INQUEST: Lutton woman Bernice Williams’ death still a mystery

A coroner has today made an open conclusion on the death of Lutton school teacher Kanwal Bernice William - known locally as Bernice Williams.

Mrs Williams’ body was found hidden in a junk room two days after her husband Lawrence Williams was found hanged on April 7.

The inquest heard Mr Williams made significant efforts over several days to give the impression that his wife was alive, including pretending to be her when sending texts from her phone, and was the only person who would have known how she met her death.

Detective inspector Karl Whiffen said he was satisfied criminal charges ranging from concealing the body to murder could have been brought against Lawrence had he lived.

Coroner Paul Cooper said: “Only he knows what happened.” The coroner also stated that Mr Williams went to extraordinary lengths to conceal the body and told the couple’s two sons that their mother was away with friends.

The inquest heard the couple had argued about Mr Williams’ alleged infidelity shortly before they died.

A post mortem on Mrs Williams (50), failed to find out how she died, while a post mortem on her husband, who was 49, found he had hanged himself.

Mr Cooper concluded Mr Williams’ death was suicide.