Tragedy of deeply troubled young man

A DERBYSHIRE man who suffered with multiple mental health conditions was found dead after police had to break into his home, an inquest has heard.

Liam Rhodes was found with empty beer cans and blister packets at his flat in Belper on Saturday, July 3, an inquest into the death of the 31-year-old heard at Chesterfield Coroners’ Court yesterday.

Police had been called by Mr Rhodes’ mother when she could not contact her son. Mr Rhodes was found unresponsive and later pronounced dead at the scene.

The hearing was told Mr Rhodes, of Derby Road, Belper, had suffered with depression and anxiety for years and had self harmed.

A GP report from Dr Gibson, of Whitehall Medical Centre, was read to the hearing. Mr Rhodes had been prescribed medication to help with his mental health problems and had been slowly reducing the dosage in the months prior to his death. Mr Rhodes had also referred himself to Derbyshire NHS Healthcare Trust but was discharged as he did not engage with any further contact from the trust.

A statement from Steven Stayner, Mr Rhodes’ biological father told the inquest how his son had struggled with depression, physical pain in his feet and had been coming to terms with his gender dysphoria.

Mr Stayner also told the inquest a dictaphone recording from a few months earlier had been found in his flat. He said how his son said how sorry he was for wanting to die. He also apologised and thanked his family.

The coroner’s court also heard how Mr Rhodes had expressed on the recording how his problems were affecting him and how he didn’t want to suffer.

The area coroner for Derby and Derbyshire, Peter Nieto, told the hearing that a post-mortem examination had been conducted and Mr Rhodes had toxic levels of medication in his system at the time of his death. He concluded that Mr Rhodes committed suicide.

Mr Nieto said: “Mr Rhodes died to the toxic effect of taking an overdose of medication for his anxiety and depression. He had previous episodes of self-harm and he had expressed how he was unhappy with his life. He gave no forewarning to anyone that he would do that. My conclusion is a conclusion of suicide.”

Addressing Mr Rhodes’ family Mr Nieto said: “I am very sorry for your loss, Liam died at a young age, in fact four days before his birthday, please accept my condolences for your sad loss.” ■■If you need help Samaritans (116 123) samaritans.org operates a 24-hour service available every day. If you prefer to write down how you’re feeling you can email Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org, write to Freepost RSRB-KKBYCYJK, PO Box 9090, Stirling, FK8 2SA or visit www.samaritans.org