Armed guard on suspect's ex-wife

The ex-wife of the prime suspect in the murder of Pc Ian Broadhurst was under police guard today as fresh details emerged of the wanted man's bizarre lifestyle before the shooting.

Nathan Coleman, 37, the American named by police as wanted for questioning for the murder and attempted murder of two other officers, worked as a club doorman for several years in Leeds.

But he was also known for frequently changing his hair colour and living "like a fugitive" with a change of clothes in a suitcase.

His former wife became so concerned about his behaviour that she once checked the internet for any evidence that he was wanted on an international arrest warrant.

Detectives in Leeds are now liaising closely with colleagues in the FBI for any detail that could explain why Coleman first came to the UK in the mid-Nineties or provide a clue for a motive for the murder.

US sheriff 's officers swooped on the American's family home in Pampano Beach, Florida, where the doorman's parents live - but found it empty. The officials also quizzed friends and neighbours in the resort near Miami.

Coleman emerged as the prime suspect for the shooting after police raided his flat in Leeds close to where the gunman's getaway car was found abandoned. Coleman was last seen at the flat at about 6pm on Boxing Day, two hours after Pc Broadhurst, 34, was shot dead and his colleague, Pc Neil Roper, 45, wounded by two bullets.

A third officer Pc James Banks, 26, was hit by a bullet but survived when it bounced off his radio and baton harness. Pc Broadhurst and his colleague were shot as they tried to handcuff a suspect they found at the wheel of a stolen BMW.

As one officer opened the back door to handcuff the man he produced a handgun and shot each policeman several times before escaping after hijacking a Rover.

Police now believe the 16-stone doorman may have fled the UK and returned to the States and detectives are checking flight schedules.

Photographs of the wanted man have been circulated to every police force in Britain and Interpol has also been alerted. US police say neither Coleman nor his parents, Tommy and Elaine, have criminal records in Florida. He is also unknown to police in the UK.

Shortly after arriving in Britain he married Denise Horsley, a laboratory technician and divorced mother of two in Kendal, Cumbria, in 1997. At the time he gave his age as 28 and his job as security guard.

The marriage quickly soured and the couple split up in 2000.

Michael Horsley, Denise's first husband who would see the American when he visited his two sons, said he later heard tales of Coleman's "oddness". "He never used to do anything. He lived off her. She was the only wage earner while he kind of slobbed around, maybe doing the odd school run.

"He lived out of a suitcase. He never actually took his clothes out of it. Denise said he used to dye his hair and she found that odd as well."

Last night, Denise, who has since remarried, was in hiding under armed police protection after spending hours with police giving them details of Coleman's past.

She was driven away from her home in Wislow, North Yorks. Her best friend Angela Knowle said: "She can't believe what has happened. She was hysterical on the phone to me." Yesterday police were still keeping guard outside the Victorian stone mansion in Oakwood where Coleman had rented a flat for the last 14 months.