Tearful Noel tells how bankers drove him to brink of suicide
FIGHTING back tears, Noel Edmonds has described how he recorded goodbye messages for his family before trying to kill himself after his firm was plundered by bankers.
The TV host said he entered ‘the darkest space’ in the human mind after he lost his fortune and his stately home in Devon.
Edmonds, 68, told ITV News how his ‘ world imploded’ 12 years ago when his business empire collapsed after financiers stole his fortune.
Deciding to take his own life, he wrote a letter to his wife – from whom he has since split – and recorded messages on his dictaphone for his children Charlotte, Lorna, Olivia and Alice, who was then just seven. Edmonds said: ‘My world imploded. I lost my home, I went to a very dark space – the darkest space the human mind ever occupies.’
After recording the messages for his family in 2005, he went to a wood near his home in Devon with a bottle of vodka and prescription pills.
But he was found and taken to hospital, before entering the Priory clinic in Bristol.
He said: ‘They stole my companies, they stole my home, they stole my family, they stole my livelihood, they nearly stole my life. I want return of my stolen goods plus damages.’
He is claiming £300million from Lloyds, which took over HBOS in 2009.
His media business, Unique Group, was plundered by rogue employees at HBOS, sending it into receivership.
Six people, including senior HBOS staff, were jailed in February over the scam, which is thought to have defrauded businesses of up to £1billion.
Lloyds said it was co-operating with an independent review, and had set aside £100million from which it was making compensation offers to HBOS fraud victims.
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