Dad's beauty spot suicide
A FATHER of two took his own life by slashing his neck in front of horrified onlookers at a South Derbyshire beauty spot, an inquest has heard.
Anthony Freeman, known as ‘Tony’, once travelled the world in his job as a rubber technologist but became ‘overwhelmed by shame’ after turning to drink while unemployed.
The inquest into his death, held at Derby and South Derbyshire Coroner’s Court, heard the 61-year-old was found slumped by a bench on April 8 last year at Midway Road Fishponds.
He had a knife bought that day and by his side.
Dog walker Sue Horton said she saw Mr Freeman cutting his neck and shouted to him: “Don’t be silly.”
She fetched a fisherman for help and dialled 999 before Mr Freeman was taken to Burton’s Queen’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Dr David Green, the consultant histopathologist who carried out the post-mortem examination, found superficial wounds on Mr Freeman’s arm and wrist and an incision to his neck.
The inquest heard Mr Freeman had twice been hospitalised in the weeks before his death.
On March 20, he was admitted to the Royal Derby Hospital after taking an overdose of sleeping tablets prescribed to him after his drink problem worsened and he was asked to leave the family home in Darklands Road, Swadlincote, by Norma Freeman, his wife of 39 years.
A day after being discharged following two nights in hospital, he was admitted to Queen’s Hospital after driving his car into a bridge.
He was initially assessed by experts at the Derby hospital as posing a ‘serious suicide risk’ but during successive assessments at both hospitals ‘denied adamantly on several occasions’ that he harboured thoughts of self-harm.
Mrs Freeman told the inquest her husband had become embarrassed after having to claim benefits for the first time in his life, causing him to rely increasingly on drink — prompting her to ask him to leave.
She said: “He was ashamed. He hated Mondays because he knew on Tuesdays he had to go and sign on.
“It was just too much for me. He was lying on the settee all day, drinking heavily and keeping me awake all night.
“He was unbearable to live with.”
Paul McCandless, assistant deputy coroner, said he was satisfied Mr Freeman had been ‘appropriately assessed’ by staff at both hospitals and his death was ‘something that could not have been predicted in any way’.
He recorded a verdict that Mr Freeman had ‘taken his own life while the balance of his mind was disturbed’.
