John Bowie yesterday gave evidence at an inquest into his wife’s disappearance from their home at Walgett in 1982.

He faced intense questioning about their relationship, the night of her disappearance and the weeks after before coroner Mary Jerram, and rejected claims by former wife Anne Bowie that he was violent.

Earlier yesterday forensic document examiner Annalise Wrzeczycki from NSW Police had provided evidence about two letters purportedly written by Roxlyn announcing her intention to leave her husband.

Mr Bowie told the court he had been in the army, including seeing active service in Vietnam and later became an ambulance officer.

He told the court he had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2002, linked to his service in Vietnam.

The court heard the Mr Bowie married Roxlyn in 1971.

Mr Bowie said the death of their prematurely-born second daughter Sharlene in 1977 aged nine days had affected them both.

He said his wife’s personality changed and he knew she didn’t like Walgett, where he was later posted. 

Roxlyn would be “chirpy one minute” but have “mood swings”.

He admitted to having affairs during his marriage to Roxlyn.

Mr Bowie told the court that on the night of June 5, 1982, he had told his wife he was going to the pub.

He said she said if he went, she wouldn’t be there when he got back, but that she had said that several times before.

As Mr Bowie provided an account of the night, counsel assisting the coroner Sergeant Paul Bush asked him if he was a bit mixed up or making it up as he went along, but Mr Bowie rejected that.

He admitted that saying Roxlyn had run off with the bank manager was just something he had said to his former wife Anne, but he said he had also told her he did not know where Roxlyn was. 

He said he had not made efforts to find his wife after he tried on the first day she went missing because he did not have the money and he had the kids and work.

He said he had asked Roxlyn’s family to look for her.

Anne Bowie had told the inquest on the previous day that her husband had been violent, but yesterday Mr Bowie said she had been the violent one, not him.

When asked about Roxlyn’s disappearance Mr Bowie said the only factor that may have contributed to wife’s disappearance was his “drinking, womanising and working”.

When asked at the end of the session if he knew anymore about Roxlyn’s disappearance, he said he knew nothing more.

Earlier yesterday Walgett resident Errolyn Dunn told the court Roxlyn and her children used to visit, but Roxlyn was “always watching the clock” and said she had to be home when her husband got home.

The inquest came to a sudden halt in the middle of the day when Margot Rule, the 86-year-old cousin of Roxlyn, collapsed and the session was adjourned for the ambulance to be called.

The inquest continues.

READ MORE: