Zoe tried to help ‘love of her life’ after suicide bids
She paid for therapy, inquest told
ZOE Ball desperately tried to help her depressed boyfriend before he was found hanged in his flat, an inquest heard yesterday.
TV cameraman Billy Yates, 40, had twice tried to kill himself and Zoe paid for him to have private treatment.
Former Royal Marine Billy had worries about a tax bill, but his relationship with the Strictly – It Takes Two host was going well, the coroner was told.
A family statement, read out at the hearing, said of the couple: “They had a friendship and a beautiful relationship, they were the love of each other’s life.”
After Billy’s first suicide attempt in November 2016, where he crashed into a motorway barrier, Zoe, 47, paid for him to stay at the Priory hospital for two weeks. She also arranged for him to see private therapists.
Billy improved but he made a second suicide
William was known and loved by a great number of people BILLY YATES’ FAMILY IN STATEMENT TO INQUEST
attempt months later. He phoned an NHS crisis number the next day but did not follow advice to go to A&E. On May 4 last year, friend Brad Abbotts found Billy’s body at his flat in Putney, South West London. He had 92mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood, putting him slightly over the drink-drive limit. Billy had been sober since August 2016 and attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting two days before his death. Coroner Shirley Radcliffe said Billy died of asphyxiation due to a ligature. Due to the alcohol in his system, she could not be satisfied he intended to take his own life and recorded an open verdict. The family statement said: “William was known and loved by a great number of people and a sweetheart to many.” It continued: “William’s life, although too short, was filled with absolute individualism. “He suffered greatly from depression which plagued him on and off for years, but life became too much.” Zoe did not attend the hearing in Westminster.