A distraught police officer took her own life after being tormented by fears her husband was having an affair and that she was losing her job.

An inquest last Thursday into Louise Gibson’s death heard how the 43-year-old mother-of-three, from Macclesfield, was told by a colleague that her husband, John, a fellow police officer based at the same station, was having an affair with a police community support officer (PCSO).

She then disappeared the day it was decided she would be ‘temporarily sidelined’ from frontline duties to deal with her marital problems.

The inquest at Beaconsfield Coroner’s Court heard that Mrs Gibson, who lived in Macclesfield and worked in High Wycombe, hired a private eye who took photographs of Mr Gibson’s car parked outside the PCSO’s home in the middle of the night.

Mrs Gibson confronted her husband, but he denied being unfaithful. She then confronted the PCSO in the toilets at work who also denied the affair.

The court heard that Mrs Gibson’s superiors became aware of the couple’s marital difficulties and called her to a meeting on Thursday, May 15, where she was told she was to be temporarily sidelined from frontline duties owing to the effect the dispute was having on her and her colleagues.

The court heard that during the meeting she became ‘distressed’ fearing she was facing losing her job and was driven to her parents’ house in Great Kingshill.

In a statement read out in court, her father, Charles Ward, said he returned home the afternoon of the meeting to find his daughter in bed. She told him she planned to take her own life.

He said: “She was in bits, she said that her relationship with her husband was over and her career was ruined and John and this girl were still allowed to carry on. I didn’t think she meant that she didn’t want to be alive.”

Mrs Gibson, who has three children from a previous relationship who live in Macclesfield, went missing at about 5.30pm.

Three notes and a will were left behind and police were informed of her disappearance at 11.42pm.

She was found hanged in nearby woods by a dog walker four days later.

Detective chief inspector Kevin Brown told the inquest about the meeting at work: “She was driven home because she was distraught about a meeting she had.

“Her perception was disproportionate to what the meeting was about. It was in relation to the ongoing personal circumstances between her and her husband and the effect it was having between her and her team. There were measures that were made to try and make a better working environment for all.

“They thought the best help they could give her was to take her away from a front line role for a short amount of time so she could address her personal issues.”

Mr Brown added: “She thought she was losing her job and her team, she was a very professional police officer with a lot of pride. It didn’t sit well with Louise in terms of her career development and she thought she had lost her husband and now she was losing her job.”

Coroner Richard Hulett recorded a verdict that she took her own life.

Although Louise stayed in Buckinghamshire while working in her role with the Thames Valley force, she lived near Macclesfield Cemetery and considered Macclesfield to be her true home.

She had three children Beth, Robert and Ellie, and was a regular at Prestbury Riding Stables and had been a member of St Michael’s Church in the town centre.