The family of a woman run over and accidentally killed by her husband have today criticised police for what they say was a "serious failure" in not bringing a criminal prosecution.
Jon Winskill was backing a Toyota Landcruiser work ute when he struck Denise Mary Robinson-Winskill (58) at their Canterbury lifestyle block, instantly killing her, on October 23, 2013.
Just weeks later, he was back on a dating website, the inquest in Christchurch before Coroner David Crerar has heard.
He had also just months earlier confessed to being blackmailed over an affair with another woman.
No criminal charges have been laid by police over incident.
Today, at the close of a two-day inquest into Ms Robinson-Winskill's death, counsel for her three children and family, Richard Raymond, raised concerns over the police "shortcomings" in its investigations of the accident.
He criticised the handling of a lack of a prosecution of "at least one obvious charge", being careless driving causing death.
"That is a serious failure," Mr Raymond said.
He also criticised police for failing to "act in a timely manner". Careless driving charges have to be laid within six months of the accident occurring.
Coroner David Crerar today said he will be writing to police for further investigations to be made. He said he had further questions that needed answering.
In adjourning the inquest, he reserved his findings, which he indicated he wanted released by the end of the year.
Earlier, the inquest heard from Ms Robinson-Winskill's daughter from her first marriage, Phoebe MacRae.
She told how Mr Winskill was an "impulsive" man who was "not always aware of his surroundings".
She said although he was a careful driver, he had nearly run over a family dog on their property while in a "rage or a mood, which was frequent".
Ms MacRae said her Cashmere High School teacher mother always had a "paranoia" about being around car and was "very cautious".
She believed the only reason Ms Robinson-Winskill would've been behind the ute -- after turning off a hose Mr Winskill was using to fill up his ute's spray tanks -- was if she didn't know her husband was going to reverse.
Mr Winskill yesterday told the inquest that before he reversed his work ute, he told his wife of 10 years: "I'm just going to put it back in the shed."
But Ms MacRae doubted he would say that. They rarely shared such "niceties", she told the inquest.
"I have no doubt she didn't know he was going to reverse," Ms MacRae said.
Mr Winskill earlier admitted having an affair with a local Lincoln woman around three months before the accident.
The woman ended up blackmailing him and he paid her $2000 to keep the affair quiet, the inquest heard.
When the woman asked for a further $5000, he confessed the extra-marital relationship to his wife in order to stop the demands.
The "irony" of the situation was that in the months before her death, their relationship had been "very good", Mr Winskill told the inquest.
Ben MacRae, Ms Robinson-Winskill's eldest of three children, earlier told how his mother had planned to leave her husband three times for "various reasons".
The children were kept in the dark about the affair though, he said.
But Linda Rae Winskill, Mr Winskill's sister today said that Ms Robinson-Winskill had confided with her about the affair.
"She was pretty angry about it but wanted to work through what happened," she said.
She agreed that her brother and sister-in-law's relationship in the three months before the accident was "really happy".
It was "ironic" that Ms Robinson-Winskill died being run over, her sister Julienne Hide said today.
When they were growing up, their father had a "phobia or paranoia" about being run over or getting hurt in a car crash.
They weren't allowed chain bicycles because he feared they couldn't stop at the road's edge in time, Mrs Hide said.
In the weeks after her sister's death, Mrs Hide said that Mr Winskill said he knew as soon as he hit something that it was his wife.
And that was why Mrs Hide struggles with the fact that he then drove forward.
She also raised concerns about his behaviour after the accident, especially his interest in other women, believing that he was happy his wife was gone and was now "free of her, of any restraint".
St John paramedic Grant Hessey arrived at the scene shortly after local volunteer firefighters.
He could find no signs of life and had to tell a "distraught" Mr Winskill that his wife was dead.
"He lost it. He was devastated and was inconsolable," Mr Hessey said in a statement read at the inquest.
He heard Mr Winskill saying, "Oh my god, what have I done?"
- Kurt Bayer of NZME News Service
