Alan Mullin had served with the Royal Green Jackets

Alan Mullin, 34, from Easter Ross, hung himself in Porterfield Prison in March.

Marion Mullin told Inverness Sheriff Court her husband had been admitted to New Craigs Psychiatric Hospital after self-harming and attempting suicide.

She said he should have been sent back to New Craigs rather than jail, when he was charged with breach of the peace.

She told the inquiry the former soldier had threatened to take his own life on many occasions, including one just prior to his suicide where he jumped in front of a car on Kessock Bridge in Inverness and was left with a broken leg.

Mrs Mullin, who lives in Conon Bridge with the couple's 12-year-old son, told the inquiry: "There was mental abuse in the Army and there was an incident within the family in his childhood.

"It played on his mind a lot. It was something he would think back to many times.

He thought he was Jesus Christ and said 'the voice in my head is telling me to kill myself' Marion Mullin

"He began to have mental health problems and was eventually diagnosed as having bi-polar disorder in 2004. It really escalated from there."

The father-of-three was admitted to New Craigs once in 2004 and again in January this year, after the incident on Kessock Bridge.

Mrs Mullin said her husband, who studied psychiatry with the Open University, was unhappy at going to New Craigs, adding: "Five days into the stay he started cutting himself."

Asked by Procurator Fiscal Gary Aitken: "Did he say what his intentions had been when he was injuring himself?"

She replied: "He was delusional. He thought he was Jesus Christ and said 'the voice in my head is telling me to kill myself'.

"The very same night he cut his throat."

She said one of the other patients had told Mr Mullin he "should have done a better job" at attempting to take his own life.

Court appearance

She said that had distressed him and he wanted to return to the family home, which he did.

Mrs Mullin told the inquiry that events took a turn for the worse in February when she found Alan in their son's room and the door was covered in blood.

The police were called to the house and Mr Mullin was arrested and remanded in Porterfield Prison in Inverness after a brief court appearance.

Mrs Mullin told the inquiry she believed her husband should have been sent back to New Craigs for treatment.

On 8 March, the day before he committed suicide, she visited her husband in jail and said: "He was reeling off verses in the bible. Voices in his head told him to kill himself."

Mrs Mullin said she was informed of his death the following day.