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Tragic: Mark Speight |
West End | News | Westminster| Mark Speight | TV presenter | CCTV | Suicide | Natasha Collins
CHILDREN'S TV presenter Mark Speight could have been dead for six days before he was discovered hanging in Paddington Station.
Westminster Coroner’s Court heard how Mr Speight, 42, was found by a security guard and two new trainees six days after he was last seen on CCTV in the lift of the Hilton Hotel in Paddington.
Detective Inspector William Jordan told the court it was likely Mr Speight had used the fire escape of the hotel on Monday April 7 to clamber on to the roof of MacMillan House – an office building by platform one of the station – before hanging himself from a metal bannister with his shoelaces.
Pathologist Dr Peter Wilkins said a post-mortem found no drugs or alcohol in Mr Speight’s blood.
Mr Speight’s father, mother and sister were in court to hear how he had been devastated by the death of his fiancée Natasha Collins, 31, in their St John’s Wood flat earlier in the year.
A broken belt, a suicide note and a page from his journal were found in his pocket on April 13. Coroner Dr Paul Knapman said the belt and marks on his neck pointed to Mr Speight trying unsuccessfully to hang himself with his belt minutes before using the shoelaces. He recorded a suicide verdict.
Mr Speight, who grew up in Wolverhampton, was stopped by police in Wood Green the day he was reported missing. He was returning from a wasted trip to see his counsellor after he had muddled up the appointment date. Officers asked him if was OK and he replied he wasn’t. But when they asked what was wrong he paused “vacantly” before saying “nothing”. They asked him if he wanted to see a doctor or go to hospital and he replied “No, it’s OK, I don’t wish to speak with you” before walking off.
Miss Collins’ mother, Carmen, with whom he had been staying, reported him missing later that day and police issued CCTV footage of Mr Speight leaving Paddington Tube station around an hour after he was seen in Willesden Green. The footage of Mr Speight entering the Hilton did not come to light until after his body was found.
The court heard that an alarm should go off when a fire door is opened. An investigation is currently under way to try to find out whether the alarm failed or, if it did go off, why nobody responded to it.
After the inquest, Mr Speight’s father Oliver said: “From the family’s perspective I want you to realise how proud we are of Mark – his dignity and his honour are in place. The real people that we feel for are the children out there, the grief of thousands and thousands of children. In the eyes of children’s TV he was an icon and we are extremely proud of that and we will not let him down.”
He added: “Look to the future, not the past and let us remember this is not the end of Mark Speight, it is the end of his beginning.”
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