A murder which shocked the community has been remembered with the death of William Funnell, convicted of strangling his wife 31 years ago.

Mr Funnell, also known as Bill, was then a resident of Old Folkestone Road, Aycliffe. He was found guilty of murder and jailed for life on October 29, 1984, at Maidstone Crown Court.

The carpenter, then aged 45, denied murdering Anne Elizabeth Funnell but a jury found him guilty.

He served 10 years of his sentence at Wormwood Scrubs Prison in West London before being released. He returned to Dover and died at his home in Blenheim Drive on February 28 this year.

Now, a coroner has found he died of natural causes.

The inquest last Wednesday heard how Mr Funnell - who suffered from a muscle wasting disease for the past three and a half years - had been immobile for 12 months and bed-bound for three months before his death.

Assistant coroner for central and south east Kent, Christopher Morris told the inquest that in December 2014, Mr Funnell had written a letter and cut both his wrists with a knife before being taken to hospital.

He called Heather Harrison, the Community Health Trust’s head of long term service for south Kent, as a witness.

She said: “He had fits and starts of one day taking fluids and diet and one day he wouldn’t. Sometimes he would stop eating and drinking but he was deemed to have full mental capacity so it was his decision, but the care was there should he have required it.”

By January this year, nurses were seeing Mr Funnell more frequently.

The inquest heard that at times Mr Funnell would refuse treatment, even asking nurses to let him remain in his chair to die.

"There weren’t many murders, and there still aren’t, so when you get something like that it’s quite upsetting for people to know that it’s happened in their area" - Graham Tutthill

When his health deteriorated, he was moved to live with one of his sons, with regular visits from the community nurses.

By February 25, Ms Harrison reported a dramatic deterioration of health and Mr Funnell was put on end of life medication before dying three days later.

He was identified by his son Stephen at William Harvey Hospital on March 13.

Pathologist Konstantinos Skendros said the post-mortem examination revealed he had bronchopneumonia and inflammation of pressure sores, deep vein thrombosis and myopathy muscle disease.

In his summary, coroner, Mr Morris said: “Mr Funnell clearly suffered with a significant number of muscle problems.

“Not surprising for somebody independently minded, as his health deteriorated, he found it difficult to bear at times, sometimes stopping eating or drinking very little. On occasions he was reluctant to engage with the considerable care given to him by community nurses.

“On February 28, Mr Funnell died at his home as a result of consequences of immobility.”

Graham Tutthill, the reporter for the Mercury who covered the murder case, said: “It shocked the community and the town.

“There weren’t many murders, and there still aren’t, so when you get something like that it’s quite upsetting for people to know that it’s happened in their area. And the community in Aycliffe, being a tight-knit community – it was shocking for them.”

Mrs Funnell was a barmaid at the King Lear pub in Aycliffe and had three children.

The trial revealed there were rumours she was having an affair with one of her customers, Peter Brown, a port operator.

In court, William Funnell said he realised she was seeing another man when she arrived home in a caravan early one morning.

The body of Mrs Funnell, 41, was found by boys playing football on the recreation ground near their home.

Robin Seabrook, QC, prosecuting, alleged she had died 11 days earlier on April 24. He said Mr Funnell attacked her, took her to the playing fields and hid her under branches.

Det Insp Michael Jones said he had confessed and had said: “I want to join Anne. I want to die. I deserve it.”

In September 1987, Mr Funnell became the subject of BBC programme Rough Justice, which saw investigative journalists dig out fresh evidence on cases they believed to be miscarriages of justice. Presenter David Jessel made the case for Mr Funnell’s innocence.

The Tablet, a weekly Catholic newspaper which published a review of the programme, said: “The lack of evidence such as bloodstains in the bedroom where Mrs Funnell was supposedly killed, or any sign of wilting plants in the undergrowth where her body was alleged to have lain for 11 days, should have been obvious to any remotely competent defence.

“From what we were told by the programme, it seemed they committed the cardinal error of believing in their client’s guilt.”

A Home Office inquiry was launched in 1988. Former Dover MP David Shaw and campaign group Justice took up his case but the ruling was not overturned.