City broker killed himself by accidentally firing shotgun during blazing row with his wife

A city broker died after accidentally shooting himself in the groin with a shotgun during a row with his wife, an inquest decided yesterday.

Both barrels were fired as 42-year-old Simon Woodward smashed the weapon into the floor of their bedroom following an argument about a mystery phone message.

His wife Karen, who is understood to have had an affair during a trial separation from her husband, tried to stem the blood but he died as the couple's children, Katie, nine, and four-year-old Zachary, cowered downstairs.

When police turned up Katie told them: 'Mummy and Daddy have been arguing.'

Mrs Woodward, 37, was arrested on suspicion of murder and questioned four times but no charges were brought.

Yesterday's inquest heard how the couple had separated for almost a year before Mrs Woodward moved back to the £450,000 thatched family home in Fenstanton, Cambridgeshire, last December.

On January 3 her husband came home from work with a Chinese takeaway.

They laughed together as they watched BBC2's The Graham Norton Show but minutes later the mood soured as they started to argue about the message.

Details of the message were not disclosed.

Mr Woodward stormed off to the master bedroom and his wife followed.

'I said to him, "Don't be silly, it's only banter. If you are that upset I will apologise in the morning". I went back downstairs to turn the lights out,' she told the inquest at Huntingdon Crown Court.

When she returned she saw her husband, who belonged to a gun club, wielding the shotgun and she hid behind the bedroom door.

'I was frightened. I froze. I just stood there for a second and was thinking, "What is he doing? What is he going to do?" ' she said.

She described how her husband, who worked for London-based petroleum markets specialists Primex Energy Brokers, hit the floor with the gun several times before she heard it go off.

Accidental death: A coroner ruled Simon Woodward had not intended to kill himself

Mrs Woodward, a keen horsewoman who had worked as a barmaid at a pub near her home, called for an ambulance but he died before it arrived.

Her husband had a 'short temper' and had received counselling, she added.

Detective Sergeant Mark Birch told the inquest the argument was 'based around some phone message going on between Mr and Mrs Woodward and other persons'.

But the coroner accepted no 'third party' had been involved in the shooting and ruled Mr Woodward's death was accidental after hearing the butt of the gun sheared as he struck it on the ground.

Mr Birch said Mr Woodward had been holding the loaded gun by both barrels as he hit the bedroom floor with it.

'The butt severed from the mechanism,' he added. 'At that point, the gun could be set off by a hair-trigger.

'It was a tragic accident during the course of the domestic argument. He was hunched over when he smashed the gun into the ground, discharging it into his groin.'

A post-mortem examination showed Mr Woodward had been drinking but the amount of alcohol in his system was less than the drink-drive limit.

The cause of death was given as blood loss.

South and West Cambridgeshire coroner David Morris said there was no evidence Mr Woodward had meant to kill himself.

'He took his own shotgun, put in two cartridges and for some reason we don't know smashed the gun to the ground, fracturing the butt,' he added.

'When he smashed the gun again, the gun fired.

'There was only one place where it could hit him and that was his groin.'

Mrs Woodward refused to comment as she left the hearing yesterday.