Plasterer took his own life – inquest

AWELL- KNOWN plasterer was found hanged at his home after a battle with depression, an inquest heard.

Michael Prestage, 56, was found by police after they forced entry to his home on Roe Greave Road in Oswaldtwistle on January 26 this year.

Concerns were raised by his daughter after she struggled to contact him and officers found ‘a lot of notes’ at the scene, Blackburn Coroners Court heard. A post-mortem examination found the father-of-two had died from hanging.

Speaking at the hearing, his sister Kathleen Young said Mr Prestage had been battling his latest bout of depression for around 12 months.

She said: “He was everything you could ask for in a brother. Just troubled in the last year or so.

“He used to come for help and then he turned round and said ‘I’m fine, I will bounce back’. Usually he did.

“He would have a few days when you wouldn’t see him and then all of a sudden he would be there and would be fine.

“He said he sometimes wanted to do it [harm himself] but then he pulled himself together and thought about his daughters and his family and decided he would fight it, which we all thought he was doing.”

Mr Prestage initially suffered from depression after divorcing from his wife several years ago, the inquest heard.

His brother Noel Prestage said: “That was quite a few years ago. He seemed to have got over that. His depression got worse later on in years. There was quite a considerable gap. It was only the last 12 months where he had really been down.

“He tended to lock himself away from people. I spoke to him the week before and he admitted he was down but said ‘I’ll be okay. I will bounce back. I always do.’ That was his way of dealing with it.

“There had been quite numerous phones calls. We had tried to get hold of him all evening. Everywhere was locked up and he wouldn’t have been anywhere else. I saw the note myself and that’s when I knew.”

Coroner Michael Singleton recorded a conclusion of suicide and said Mr Prestage was a ‘very troubled soul’ based on the notes he left.

He said: “Certainly it seems to me that the mind is capable of going to some very dark places and it’s clear from the notes that Michael was in a dark place.

“It’s clear from the notes the depression is so deep that logic and reason left home some time ago.”

‘It seems... the mind is capable of going to some very dark places’