Tragedy of father whose behaviour gave no cause for concern

ON DAY OF DEATH HE HAD BOUGHT PLANTS WITH WIFE

A 46-YEAR-OLD father with no diagnosed history of mental health difficulties took his own life, an inquest heard.

Darren Jones had had an incident of self harm four years before his death, but had not contacted his GP about any mental health issues.

An inquest heard Mr Jones was found hanging in the garage of his home in Repton Road, Hartshorne, by his wife, Kay.

The inquest, held at Derby Coroner’s Court, heard a written statement from his wife, who said that at 7.20pm on August 26, 2019, she went into the garage after being unable to find Mr Jones.

She carried out CPR until paramedics arrived at 7.43pm, but he was pronounced dead a short while later.

In her statement, Mrs Jones said she had met her future husband 28 years ago and described him as “happy and jolly”.

They moved in together in Nuneaton in 1993 and in 2016 moved to Hartshorne, where Mr Jones was concerned he would not find work, but eventually found employment as a builder.

Mrs Jones said her husband would smash things up when he had had a drink. On one occasion in 2016 the couple had been out for a walk and something happened which caused an argument.

He later punched a door and Mrs Jones decided to leave the house overnight. In that time, Mr Jones had cut his wrists and told his wife it was a spur-of-the-moment incident and it would not happen again.

On August 26, 2019, the couple had bought plants for their garden in the morning. Later on, Mrs Jones had been preparing dinner when Mr Jones asked if she was upset, to which she replied she was not.

An argument later took place and he went into another room.

Mrs Jones later found him hanging in the garage.

Coroner Peter Nieto said: “It is very clear to me that Darren gave no inkling that he was contemplating this. His behaviour was not different from any other days.

“There had been an argument, but that did not give cause for worry.

“He had no mental health problems and had not attended his doctors’ surgery about this.

“It seems he was quick in terms of mood changes, but there was no indication that Darren was going to do what he did, so it must have come as a terrible shock.

“He didn’t appear to have left any notes, but it seems to me that if someone did what he did, then it must be clear what the consequences would be, so it demonstrates that he had the intention of taking his own life.

“It doesn’t appear that he called for help. There was a previous incident in 2016 and it must have been thought that it was a one-off.”

The coroner ruled that Mr Jones’ death was suicide.

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