A BARMAN has been jailed for killing his Welsh girlfriend in a bungled suicide attempt using gas stolen from a Bromsgrove pub.

David Cole, previously of Bromsgrove now of Waterloo Road, Havant, was pulled semi conscious by police from a car. But police found the body of victim Leonie Roberts, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Cole, 36, admitted manslaughter and was jailed for four years by Judge Francis Gilbert, QC.

They spent their last three days together fulfilling their last wishes after Cole stole £5,000 from the Grapevine where he worked.

They went to a London casino, visited London Zoo, enjoyed a final night at a country house hotel and an evening in a pub in Liskeard.

Miss Roberts, 28, a bar worker from Chepstow, Wales, had thought up the pact and persuaded Cole to join her.

She left notes making it clear she would take her own life with or without Cole's help, with one asking her family not to blame Cole for her death.

Mr Peter Coombe, prosecuting, said the couple began an on-off relationship when they worked together at a pub in Chepstow but by the summer of 2013 he moved to Bromsgrove.

She had a history of depression, previously taking an overdose and speaking to friends about suicide.

Cole talked to other bar staff about her and his own depression. Three days before Leonie's death he went missing along with up to £9,000 cash and two gas bottles.

The couple bought the silver Mondeo for £1,700 and travelled to London before going to the hotel for their final night.

On the evening of the suicide pact at the Liskeard pub they seemed quite normal but borrowed a roll of tape. It was used to seal up vents in the Mondeo when they stopped beside the A387 at West Wayland, near Looe.

Members of the public became suspicious of the car because it had steamed up windows.

Although the gas is not poisonous it proved fatal to Miss Roberts because it filled the car, suffocating and starving her of oxygen.

Cole survived despite inhaling so much of the carbon dioxide gas that he should have been asphyxiated by it.

The judge told Cole: "You should have tried to dissuade her. You did not. You assisted her by obtaining the means to carry out the pact.

"You stole the cylinders and purchased the vehicle and encouraged her by falling in with her plans."

Mr Coombe said: "A diary written by Leonie was found in the car which made it clear she was content in her own mind with the decision and the arrangements they had made. It seems she enjoyed the last few days she lived.

"He also wrote letters and there was one signed by both of them.

"He told police she had told him she was going to take her own life with or without him. He said they had opened the canisters together."

Mr Richard Smith, QC, defending, said Cole had put no pressure on Leonie.

He said: "She had calmly planned what she wanted to do. She foresaw the defendant might be blamed and in her own words she wrote 'please don't blame him'.

"She was in a contented place. She took her life with his assistance in the way she wanted. The fact he failed is a mystery."

Mr Smith said Cole has recovered from his depression, starting a new life as a factory worker with family support.