A DISTURBED and jealous 44-year-old stabbed the mother of his child to death before plunging from the seventh floor of a tower block, Westminster Coroner’s Court heard yesterday.

Witnesses saw 34-year-old Amanda Farquharson, of Wembley, being stabbed by Keith Van Cooten, of Courthill Road, Lewisham, as they sat in her black Toyota Yaris in Harlesden at around 6.20pm on October 16 last year.

She was found slumped over in the passenger seat and, despite the efforts of police and ambulance workers, was pronounced dead at 6.57pm.

The trainee beauty therapist and mum-of-two had suffered stab wounds to the chest along with a head injury.

Mr Van Cooten fled the scene by train and was later found dead, lying at the bottom of a block of flats in Kilburn. He had a photo of Miss Farquharson in his back pocket.

The court heard the pair had separated in 2000 at the time of their daughter’s birth but had remained in an on-off relationship and stayed in regular contact for the sake of their child, often meeting in Harlesden.

During their “tempestuous” relationship, she had made reports to the police of assault, non-violent domestic incidents and harassment.

And in the run-up to her death Miss Farquharson had confided in a friend that she had concerns over their relationship and was staying at her mother’s house because of these worries.

Hours before the stabbing, an “incoherent” Mr Van Cooten had turned up at Miss Farquharson’s home in Walton Avenue.

Detective Inspector Andrew Chalmers, who led the investigation, told the inquest: “He had talked about his fear that she was going to leave him.”

The inquest heard he had also spoken to a friend about committing suicide and was becoming “increasingly erratic” in conversation, talking about speaking to witch doctors over the relationship.

Det Ins Chalmers said: “He was very low. He was no longer in employment, he had financial problems.

“He felt that his relationship with Amanda, which he clearly wanted to either rekindle or maintain was breaking up.

“He talked to friends about the fact that he believed she was seeing another man.”

After the stabbing, at around 7pm, Mr Van Cooten was seen by witnesses at Torridon House in Randolph Gardens, Kilburn, behaving “strangely”.

One witness told police Mr Van Cooten was “on all fours in a praying position” and “looked like he was on drugs”

He introduced himself as Keith Andrews and told the witness: “Don’t forget me.”

Moments later the father-of-two had fallen from the balcony to his death.

Coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe recorded an open verdict on Mr Van Cooten's death, as she was unable to be certain it was suicide.

Miss Farquharson’s cause of death was given as haemorrhage due to stab wounds to the heart and the coroner ruled she had been unlawfully killed.

In a statement her family paid tribute to her as “a loving and kind human being whose life was cut short at a time when she had so much to live for”.