The husband of a woman who killed herself in 2014 has been found guilty of assisting her suicide, with the court hearing he stood to gain $1.4 million from her life insurance.

A jury found Graham Robert Morant, 69, aided his wife Jennifer Morant, 56, to gas herself in her car by helping her buy a petrol generator from a Bunnings hardware store.

Mrs Morant — who the court heard suffered from chronic back pain, depression and anxiety — was found by police dead in the driver’s seat of her car on November 30, 2014 with the doors closed and a note saying “please don’t resuscitate me”.

Investigators said the back seat had been folded down with a petrol generator in the boot.

The trial in the Queensland Supreme Court heard Morant stood to gain $1.4 million from three life insurance policies, that would be paid out even in the event of a suicide.

He always maintained his innocence claiming he was not aware of the details of the policies, despite being named as the sole beneficiary.

The court heard Morant had told his wife he wanted to use the money to build a religious commune in the Gold Coast hinterland, with bunkers, as a haven from the biblical rapture.

In police statements of interviews presented to the court Morant initially said he had no involvement in his wife’s suicide.

But when he learnt of CCTV vision of his visit to the hardware store, his story changed.

“Slowly, very slowly, over the course of the next hour the accused explained he did assist his wife in her suicide,” Crown Prosecutor Michael Lebanese told the court.

Judge Peter Davis had told the jury the case would be extremely complex as they had to asses consciousness of guilt.

“First you must be satisfied the accused has told a deliberate untruth,” he said.

“Some people sometimes have an innocent explanation for lying.

“The question is why did he lie? You can only use the lie because he was conscious that the truth could convict him.”

Mrs Morant’s best friend Judy Dent told the trial that Mrs Morant made it clear her husband wanted the insurance money.

Under oath, Ms Dent told the court that when Mrs Morant visited her a week before her death she said “I have to do it”.

“I have to kill myself and Graham will be helping me,” Ms Dent said Mrs Morant told her.

Graham Morant did not give evidence during the trial.

He showed no emotion as the sentence was read out, but his family broke down, as did Mrs Morant’s family.

He will be sentenced on October 19.

If you or anyone you know needs help, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

– ABC