Couple found dead at their Bloomsbury home after husband 'strangled his wife before he hanged himself'

Margaret Mercati is thought to have been strangled by husband Robert before he hanged himself at their London flat

The sons of a couple found dead in their flat in an exclusive part of London today paid tribute to their mother, who is believed to have been strangled by her husband.
A note left outside the Bloomsbury flat where Robert Mercati, 63, is said to have attacked his pensioner wife Margaret before killing himself, speaks of a mother described as 'our strength and the best of us'.
Mr Mercati, a grandfather who had been to prison for his part in a £200,000 diamond heist a decade ago, and his wheelchair-bound wife were found in their flat in Rugby Street, close to Russell Square, on Wednesday afternoon.  They had sons aged 29 and 32.
The note believed to be from their sons reads: 'In loving memory of Mum.  Words cannot express the hole that will be left in our hearts.  You was (sic) our strength and the best of us. We’ll love you forever and live for your memory.
'You're with your brothers and sisters ...and your Mum and Dad..' and is signed: 'Your sons and family & the bubbas'.
Another note left at the scene said: 'We are so sorry to have lost two beautiful, special people. You will always be in our memories.'
A neighbour of the couple described them both as 'volatile', and said the Mercatis were often to be heard arguing, most recently at 6am on the morning they died.  The neighbour believed Mrs Mercati was attacked some time before noon, with her husband dying soon afterwards.
The couple are believed to have been discovered on Wednesday afternoon after one of their sons arrived at the flat and got in through a side door.
He called an ambulance and paramedics found the female victim in her 60s, before finding her husband's body behind their flat.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said it was a murder investigation but at this early stage officers were not looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths.


Police were called by London Ambulance Service to the flat shortly before 1.45pm on Wednesday, following reports that a woman had been found injured.

The woman was treated at the scene following an apparent assault but was pronounced dead at 2.10pm. The man was pronounced dead one minute later.

They confirmed the deceased are a husband and wife, and next of kin have been told of their deaths.
A neighbour who lived close to the Mercatis for several years told MailOnline: 'I knew them both quite well and they were very nice people, always extremely polite and friendly, but they argued frequently.
'She suffered from depression and was house-bound because of that.  I didn't see her out for about two years and then recently I've seen her out.
'They definitely both had volatile tempers  - she was quite argumentative and he had a long history of alcoholism, but he said he'd given up a couple of years ago.
'They were always extremely smartly dressed - his father was a tailor - and were both born in Covent Garden, her in Earlham Street and Bob in Seven Dials.'
The neighbour, who said heard a commotion in the couple's flat shortly after Mr Mercati is believed to have attacked his wife, said Mr Mercati would often look after his small grandson in the afternoons.
Barber Mus Ismail, 35, who runs the hairdresser where the Mercatis have been going for years and who cut Mr Mercati's hair last weekend, said they seemed 'a very happy couple'.
Mr Ismail, who owns Ted's Grooming Room in Theobald's Road, Holborn said: 'He was in on Saturday, seemed good as gold, no problems at all.
'He was just normal, nothing unusual. They seemed like a happy couple - a very happy couple, nothing out of the ordinary.

'They seemed a lot more together than not together, they were always going here and there together.  He was a bit of a character, always bubbly and friendly. Just a character really.'

Mr Ismail added: 'He had the full treatment, haircut, shave, he looked good and seemed healthy, tanned. I definitely didn't see any problems.
'He's come here since we opened 15 years ago. Before me, it was my dad who used to cut his hair. He comes in with his sons sometimes.
'On Saturday he was really looking good, we just talked casually like "how you doing?' nothing out of the ordinary.
'Someone popped the same day [he died] and told us. I didn't know what to think, I thought maybe it was a break-in and someone had killed them.
'I just didn't believe it until I saw the flowers outside and the police.'

Robert and Margaret Mercati, who had two grown-up sons, were found dead at home on Wednesday

Floral tributes to the couple were left outside their flat in the upmarket Bloomsbury district of London

Post-mortem examinations took place yesterday at St Pancras Mortuary and gave the causes of death as strangulation for the woman and injuries consistent with hanging for the man.
In 2004 Mr Mercati was given an 18-month prison sentence after being convicted of stealing diamonds worth more than £200,000 from a display cabinet in the upmarket Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge.
A subsequent case at Southwark Crown Court heard that Mercati, then aged 54, and his friend Stephen Ward, then 31, used duplicate keys to unlock the cabinets and took gems valued at £209,000 designed by celebrity favourite Sasha Ratiu.
A diamond necklace, tiara and ring, as well as other rings, earrings, bracelets, pendants and brooches encrusted with diamonds, rubies, sapphires and blue topaz were among the 21 pieces of jewellery stolen from the showcases in May 2003.

The couple's hairdresser said he saw Mr Mercati at the weekend and described him as 'bubbly and friendly'

The thieves escaped with the jewels, but were caught on the hotel's CCTV cameras and the footage was later shown on Crimewatch which led to police arresting them.
The court heard that Mercati suffered poor health and was described as an 'unlikely accomplice' in the crime.
In 2011 Robert Mercati was convicted of shoplifting from a designer store in Bicester Village and given a 12-month suspended jail sentence and ordered to do 250 hours of unpaid work.
Oxford Crown Court heard that Mercati stole two Alfred Dunhill coats on January 8 2011, and was also present at an earlier theft when his friend Peter Ladlow, also from London, stole a designer bag from Christian Dior a month earlier.
Mercati’s lawyer told the court that his client lived on benefits and cared for his wife.

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