A dad who slashed the throats of his three children before leaping to his death had previously threatened to strangle his wife with a phone cord, an inquest heard.
Ceri Fuller killed Samuel, 12, Rebecca, eight, and Charlotte, seven, with a hunting knife days after wife Ruth sent flirty texts to her open university lecturer.
After confessing she had developed a “schoolgirl crush” on Mark Lindley-Highfield, Ruth told Fuller she needed time away from him.
In a written statement, she described their relationship as “violent” and said her husband became jealous if she looked at other men.
Ruth, 34, said he threatened to kill her with the phone cord during a boozy row shortly after she gave birth to Samuel.
“We were both drinking heavily and there had been violent incidents,” she said.
“I had been violent towards him and he had been violent towards me.
“One time I had slammed down a wine glass and he hit me a few times.
“I tried to call the police and he took the phone off the hook and the cord and said he was going to kill me with it.”
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Ruth described how Fuller, 35, walked out of the family home with their children on July 12 last year after she told him to “take the kids for a drive” after a row.
She had told him the day before that she wanted to end their relationship and move out of their home in Milkwall, Gloucs, after falling for her lecturer.
Four days later on July 16, the children’s bodies were found 75 miles away near a disused quarry in Poles Coppice in Shrops.
After slaughtering them Fuller dumped their bodies in woodland before jumping to his death off a 60ft cliff.
Describing their final days, Ruth said in her statement: “I took the university course because I wanted to come out of my shell.
“It was difficult for Ceri to see me becoming more intelligent, happier and interacting with other people because he was so possessive.
“On the Wednesday I was in emotional turmoil, I had sent an email to my tutor with my art portfolio and we exchanged a few texts.
“I told Ceri I had sent the email to my tutor but I didn’t show him it. He said he had seen the texts so he must have looked at my phone at some point.
“We had spoken about Mark previously and I had admitted I thought he was attractive and Ceri didn’t like that at first but he was okay.
“Later he stood in front of me crying holding his wedding ring and asked me if he should take it with him. I can’t remember how he came to be in front of me.
“Ceri made dinner, some kind of spicy pasta, and we had some alcohol.
“We didn’t really drink much anymore as we had problems with it at university. It made him sullen and introverted.
“I remember we talked about the 12/12 scenario and whether the world was going to end or if humans were just going to ascend.
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