TV’s Ashley: My horror at finding body of husband
ACTRESS Ashley Jensen yesterday told an inquest of the devastating moment she returned home to find her husband had taken his own life.
The emergency services were called to Terence Beesley’s home in Camerton, near Bath, on November 30 last year, where they found the 60-year-old in a car in his garage.
Paramedics tried to revive him but he was pronounced dead at the scene at 6.03pm that day, Avon Coroner’s Court heard.
Ms Jensen is best known in Britain for playing Maggie in Extras, alongside Ricky Gervais. Mr Beesley, also an actor, played Buxton in ITV’s Victoria.
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In a statement Ms Jensen, 48, told of the moment she came home and found her husband before frantically calling the police.
She had last communicated with him via text message and email on the afternoon of his death.
She said: “I was extremely shocked by what happened. I will never forget it. Terry and I had been together for 18 years but I had no idea he was capable of what he did.”
The couple had been married for 10 years. Their son, Francis, is aged eight.
Coroner Peter Harrowing concluded that Mr Beesley’s death had been suicide. But he said: “There is no evidence that I have heard to indicate why Mr Beesley took the act that he did. In any event it is not my function to answer the question why Mr Beesley might have taken that act.”
He added: “Mr Beesley knew that his wife and young child were not at the house and he would not be disturbed. I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Beesley made a deliberate act.”
The Coroner’s Court heard Mr Beesley’s medical cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning.
Dr Sam Robinson, Mr Beesley’s GP, said in a statement the actor had “no past medical history of any mental health issues”.
In her statement Ms Jensen, who also played Christina in the US show Ugly Betty, said she first met Mr Beesley in 1999 while working on a production of King Lear.
They married in 2007 and lived in London and LA before moving to Somerset.
She said her husband was outgoing and had many friends and colleagues.
Mr Beesley, who was born in London, played General Bennigsen in BBC One’s War And Peace and appeared in numerous other TV shows including the Bill, Casualty and as Derek Branning in EastEnders.
Soon after his death, Ms Jensen said she had been left “devastated” by what had happened.