Singer Morrison found his wife hanged at home, inquest is told
JAMES MORRISON, the singer, discovered his wife hanged at their home, an inquest was told yesterday.
The body of Gillian Catchpole, 45, was found at the property in Whitminster, Glos, on Friday morning.
Police had been asked to check on the mother-of-two a couple of days before because of “concerns for her welfare”.
Ms Catchpole had said she was looking forward to the New Year after the launch of her catering firm and successful village cafe.
A friend raised the alarm and, after the singer made his way into the property, he found his wife, the mother of Ada Rose, five, and Elsie, 15.
Emergency service were called and she was pronounced dead at 9.37am.
Police told Roland Wooderson, the Herefordshire coroner, there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding her death and Dr Terry Jones, a pathologist, gave the provisional cause of death as hanging after carrying out a post mortem examination.
A family friend told The Sun: “James is devastated and is being supported by his family.
“He is holding it together for their girls but has asked for the family to be left alone to grieve in private.”
The community was said to be in “complete shock” and Morrison has cancelled all of his work commitments to focus on caring for his daughters.
The couple married in 2006 after meeting 20 years earlier when Ms Catchpole became a lodger at his mother’s home.
Ms Catchpole had a life-saving kidney transplant 14 months ago.
Ahead of her operation, in an Instagram post, she said: “Well, what can I say? What a difference a year makes.
“This time last year I was having my kidney transplant and, a year on, after many ups downs and heartache, I am here owning my own business. At the start of this year I myself never saw this coming. For anyone out there struggling I can tell you from experience it does get better.
“Thanks to my amazing family and friends that have been there through it all and picked up the many pieces of me and my life. You all know who you are ... today I feel blessed.” Mr Morrison has been through a number of tragedies following the loss of his alcoholic father Paul in 2010. He also lost his older brother, Alexis, and nephew, Callum, in a three -year period Mr Morrison’s 2006 debut album, Undiscovered, is a five-time certified platinum release in Britain.
Meanwhile, his follow-up, Songs for You, Truth for Me, went platinum three times and The Awakening, released in 2011, was also certified platinum.