A New Malden hairdresser may not have been trying to kill himself when he stabbed himself in the heart after a “petty” argument with his wife, an inquest has heard.

Marco D’Andrea, 53, was found dead in an alleyway behind the back garden of their home in Tennyson Avenue, next to Motspur Park, at about 8am on May 24.

A 15cm kitchen knife had been plunged all the way into Mr D’Andrea’s heart, with barely any of the blade visible to ambulance staff, who immediately called police suspecting he had been murdered.

His widow Linda D’Andrea, accompanied by her son and sister, wept while deputy coroner Dr Radcliffe returned an open verdict at Westminster Coroner’s Court on Wednesday, September 8.

Although murder was ruled out by a police investigation, the lack of a suicide notice or history of suicidal behaviour meant Dr Radcliffe could not be convinced Mr D’Andrea intended to take his own life.

Dr Radcliffe said: “I find it a little hard to find that he intended to kill himself. I find it difficult to believe that he intended to die.

“There is no previous psychiatric history and no clear-cut signs of depression. This was following a small petty family argument.”

The Italian-born hairdresser had been drinking heavily at a family barbecue on the previous day, and got into a row with his wife after he lit up a cigarette, despite the couple’s agreement to quit smoking together.

Having gone missing that evening, Mr D’Andrea was not found dead in the alleyway by his wife the next morning.

Mr D’Andrea suffered a brain haemorrhage in 1995 and was told to quit smoking in 2005 following a heart attack. He went on a “self-destruct mission” after his brother died from an almost identical injury 10 years after his haemorrhage.

Coroner’s officer Deborah Plant said: “He was sad that he survived but his brother did not. He would ask “Why me”, but at no point did he express a suicidal intention.”

His wife, Linda D’Andrea, told the inquest: “When we used to talk about it, he had suffered the same thing a few years previously and his brother had just tragically died.

“He was an older brother who he looked up to and missed terribly. He had nights where he would get in a very morose state of mind. He would listen to his brother’s favourite songs.”