Malmesbury man took own life (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Malmesbury man took own life

8:00pm Sunday 23rd September 2012 in News By Craig Jones

A man who found the body of his cousin when he called round to see why he had missed a week of work and failed to meet his family, told an inquest into his death he had no idea the Malmesbury man was contemplating suicide.

Trevor Geoffrey Constable, 55, was found with a rope around his neck hanging from a loft hatch at his home in Park Road on Friday, February 3 by his cousin Steven Baker and Jonathan Wilkins, the partner of his daughter Amy.

During the hearing, held at Trowbridge Town Hall on Tuesday last week, grandfather Mr Constable was described as a private man who loved his family dearly.

Mr Baker, who worked with Mr Constable at Dodington Park, in Gloucestershire, leading up to his death, said: “I went to Trevor’s home address and saw Jonathan Wilkins looking for the spare key. We decided to force the rear door into the utility area attached to the house.

“Jonathan went in and came out; he appeared to be in shock. I went in and saw Trevor hanging from the loft hatch and called for the police. I can’t think of any reason Trevor would have done this.”

Mr Constable wasn’t seen from the Sunday before his death and the self-employed joiner hadn’t come to work at Dodington Park all week, although this was not considered unusual.

Police found two notes in Mr Constable’s house, one written in 1997, following the breakdown of his marriage and another suspected to have been written near to his death while there was also a board in the lounge of the house telling family not to enter and to call the emergency services.

Daughter Amy Constable said: “I think it was quite clear that he didn’t want to be here anymore.”

A pathologist found that Mr Constable, who had no history of mental illness, had died from compression of neck structures with ligature.

Ian Singleton, assistant deputy coroner for Wiltshire, said: “From regards to the evidence I’ve heard my conclusion is that Mr Constable took his own life. I pass on to you my sincere condolences to his family for their loss.”