A MAN who tried to suffocate his wife had earlier left a devastated business and a trail of debt in Alderney.

Pension consultant Peter Nunn, 63 (pictured), who admitted the attempted murder of Joan Nunn, 80, at Bristol Crown Court on Monday, ran an insurance company in St Anne for around six years from 1989.

Nunn attempted to smother his wife with a pillow at their home in Wookey, Somerset, on 27 May last year.

Mrs Nunn struggled free and a few hours later Nunn phoned his GP to say he had tried to kill his wife.

Speaking after this week’s hearing, Detective Constable Karen Mines said Nunn had tried to maintain his lifestyle but was slowly sinking in debt. Police also said Nunn and his wife, from whom Nunn had kept secret their financial meltdown, were due to be evicted from their home.

When he fled Alderney following a failed suicide attempt in the mid-1990s, Nunn had run Ingham International into the ground and owed thousands in tax. He had also run up various other debts with islanders and businesses.

One of Nunn’s former employees, a 43-year-old woman who did not wish to be identified, said he was too frightened to admit to his mistakes.

Bristol Crown Court adjourned sentencing Nunn pending psychiatric reports and a victim impact statement.

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