Man found in water had sent friend text message, inquest hears

A MAN sent a friend a text message saying “I’m done” just hours before his body was pulled from an estuary.

Sean Mahoney-Brown, 46, was the subject of a large-scale search which had been launched involving police, fire crews, coastguard teams, a rescue helicopter and a lifeboat after people reported hearing screams coming from the area near Towy Boat Club near Llansteffan, Carmarthenshire, during the early hours of September 15 last year.

An inquest into Mr MahoneyBrown’s death, held at Llanelli Town Hall yesterday, heard that on the previous evening at around 6.45pm he received a message from a new partner whom he had recently started seeing informing him that the relationship was now over. Shortly after that Mr Mahoney-Brown texted a friend with the words: “I’m done.”

In the hours that followed, when the emergency services were conducting their search in the Llansteffan area, police discovered a fresh set of footprints at 3.29am leading from Towy Boat Club down to the water, around half a mile from where members of the public reported hearing screams, and a man’s body was pulled from the water shortly after.

At 4.43am paramedics at the scene confirmed that the man had died and at 7.02am Mr MahoneyBrown was reported missing by a friend, who said they had received a text which indicated suicidal thoughts. The man’s body was later confirmed as that of Mr Mahoney-Brown.

Originally from Cardiff, the inquest heard that he had worked at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant for many years before setting up his own business, which was severely impacted last year.

Before moving to Carmarthenshire Mr MahoneyBrown had suffered with mental health issues for many years and received treatment following drug overdoses in 2004, 2006 and 2014.

The acting coroner for Carmarthenshire, Paul Bennett, said: “This is a sad case of an individual for whatever particular reason deciding that he should end his life.

“From the circumstances described and from the evidence heard I find that Sean MahoneyBrown had the intent to end his life.

“I find that he died from asphyxiation by drowning and record a verdict of suicide.”

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