Zambian woman killed by British husband in murder-suicide case

Four schoolgirls have been left orphaned after a village butcher killed his estranged wife before leaping to his death from a multi-storey car park. Oliver Ruse, 37, was left ‘heartbroken’ after his wife Debbie left him and their four children and moved abroad.

He is understood to have been upset further when she came back and requested access to their daughters and demanded half the family business, which was founded by his great-great-grandfather.

 

Mr Ruse’s body was found at the bottom of a six-storey car park in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Police discovered his wife’s body a few hours later on Thursday afternoon when they went to her rented cottage 13 miles away in the village of Long Melford.

Officers refused to reveal the cause of her death yesterday. Post-mortem examinations are due to take place over the weekend. The couple’s daughters, aged eight, 11, 12, and 16, were being comforted by family members last night. 

A family friend, who asked not to be named, said Mr Ruse had been on anti-depressants since his wife’s return, adding: ‘Nobody can quite believe that he did something so terrible. The whole village is in deep shock.’

Another friend said: ‘She [Mrs Ruse] came back and demanded half the business. Times are hard and it was just the last straw. Ollie was also a devoted father and he dreaded the thought of her becoming involved with the kids again.’ Another villager said: ‘He had custody of the kids and lived for his kids. He made sure they were always smartly dressed for school.’

Mr Ruse’s stepmother, Sheelagh – who married Oliver’s father Henry, 71, after his first wife died of leukaemia – said: ‘Everyone’s devastated.

‘Oliver was a very gentle man and bent over backwards to please Debbie. I don’t know what happened – a breakdown or something. I think he was still in love with her. He didn’t want her to leave him.’ The couple had met after Zambia-born Mrs Ruse, 39, had moved to the UK to study law.

They married in 1998 but split up around two years ago and she moved to Brazil. Companies House files show that she remained a 49 per cent shareholder in the family business.

There were conflicting explanations for the split. Some villagers claimed she had met a man through the internet. Others said she was a devout Christian who went to Rio as a missionary before returning two months ago.

A family friend said: ‘Oliver did everything to accommodate his wife and treated her like a queen. When she got involved in a happy-clappy church, he got embroiled in it as well. 

When she walked out, he got a phone call from her at Heathrow, saying that she was about to fly to Brazil.’ 

 

Her rented two-bedroom cottage was 400 yards from Ruse & Son, which was founded by Mr Ruse’s great-great-grandfather in 1860.  The fifth generation of his family to control the business, he began working there in 1998 and took it over from his father in 2007.

The firm supplies a number of upmarket outlets and featured in the Jamie Oliver documentary, Jamie Saves Our Bacon.

 

Curtains were drawn at the 16th century house in the village where Mr Ruse lived with his daughters. Suffolk Police confirmed that they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths...dailymail