male colleague thanking him for a 'wonderful' date – but
accidentally sent it to her husband, an inquest heard.
PC Gail Crocker, 46, met a fellow officer while her husband
Peter, 49, was away from their home near St Austell,
Cornwall, on a business trip in London.
Later that evening the mother of two typed a message on her
mobile saying: 'Thank you for a wonderful evening. Only
wish we could do this more often'.
But Mrs Crocker sent it to her husband of 30 years by
mistake, an inquest in Truro was told.
He came home and she admitted to having a 'one-off'
rendezvous with a male colleague but insisted it had never
happened before.
The couple rowed, and the next day Mrs Crocker called in
sick from work and drove to a lane two-and-a-half miles away
from her home in the village of St Stephen. She took an
overdose and was later found dead in her car on 15 June.
Mr Crocker, of St Stephen, Cornwall, told the inquest his wife
had begged him for forgiveness when he got back from his
trip.
He said: 'I got out [of the car] and she was in floods of tears
saying she was sorry. She told me it was a one-off and she
had never done it before.
Mr Crocker told the hearing they rowed the following
morning, saying: 'She went on and on again. My work phone
rang. I was so angry I slammed it into the ground.
After going to the supermarket to buy a replacement phone,
Mr Crocker arrived home later that day to find his wife and
her car had gone.
Mr Crocker contacted her sergeant at Bodmin Police Station
who told him she had called in sick for her shift that
afternoon.
He said: 'I didn't sleep at all. I didn't hear from Gail during
the night.'
The following morning David Rendell and his wife, close
friends of the Crockers, spotted Mrs Crocker's car in the car
park at Lanjeth, a nearby village, and called her husband.
Mr Crocker discovered his wife's body in the boot next to an
empty bottle of tablets, which the pathologist said caused her
death, and suicide notes written to him and daughters Chloe,
22 and Gemma, 25.
Mrs Crocker, who met her husband in Plymouth when she
was 15 and he was 17, first trained as a PCSO in Truro in
2003 and became a police constable in 2007.
Mr Crocker added in his statement: 'She was a people person
– she would speak to anyone about anything. Being a PCSO
was her perfect job.
'She was my life. We had plans. Nothing was worth her
taking her life. I'm lost without her.'
- Paul Crocker, 49
'She was my life. We had plans. Nothing was worth her
taking her life. I'm lost without her.'
The unnamed colleague with whom Mrs Crocker spent the
evening was not required to give evidence or named at the
inquest.
Returning a verdict of suicide, Coroner for Cornwall Emma
Carlyon told the hearing she was satisfied that Mrs Crocker's
death resulted from a deliberate act to take her own life.
At the time of her death colleagues paid tribute to the
'excellent' police officer who was based in Truro and later
Bodmin.
Sector inspector Robin Hogg said: 'I have known Gail for
several years and will always remember her as an excellent
officer with a bright, happy and positive disposition.'
'Gail leaves a husband and two daughters who miss her
deeply and are very proud of the role she carried out in the
community.'
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