A SUSPECTED wife-killer committed suicide in his own home after giving police the slip, reveal emergency services.

Joan T.P., 40, had been taken to the scene of the crime in handcuffs by the Mossos d'Esquadra – Catalunya's answer to the Guardia Civil – in order to stage a reconstruction of the murder.

It was at the marital home in Santa Coloma de Queralt (Tarragona) where the accused managed to escape custody long enough to throw himself down the stairs, with fatal results.

He is accused of having repeatedly stabbed his wife, 33, and dumping her body in the loft conversion of their house.

Officers heard that the accused had taken the couple's two children, aged three and seven, to his parents' home in Sabadell (Barcelona), and that his apparently shifty behaviour aroused suspicions among his family members.

They telephoned the victim's parents, saying they believed something strange was happening.

The two families discovered the girl's body in the attic and contacted the police.

Residents of the small town of Santa Coloma de Queralt, a close-knit community, are said to be in a state of shock over the news.

They say the couple, both Spanish nationals and university graduates, were 'very integrated' and heavily involved in village activities.

The woman is the fifth mortal victim of domestic violence in the past year in the region of Catalunya.