I’ve cracked ... last text of Vodafone rep before restaurant death leap
He’s 6th diner to commit suicide off City terrace
THE sixth in a series of diners to die falling from the roof of an exclusive restaurant had typed ‘I have cracked’ on his phone.
Michael Halligan, 29, threw himself from the seventh floor balcony of the Coq d’Argent in the City of London.
The Vodafone sales rep had drafted messages on his phone saying: ‘I’m bored of life and even the future possibilities disinterest me, nobody’s fault, nothing could be done to change it. I no longer try to adapt myself to others. I’m not made for this world. I have cracked.’
Mr Halligan had gone alone to the Coq d’Argent on January 17 at around 2.50pm and ordered food before heading out to the terrace at around 4pm, City of London Coroner’s Court heard yesterday.
He was captured sitting in the background of a photo taken of a family having a meal, before he went outside to climb over a two-metre fence and plunge to his death.
A tourist on a walking tour of the City, Fabian Graimann, saw him leap ‘ without hesitation’ to his death from the rooftop brasserie near Bank Tube station.
Mr Graimann said: ‘I could see him fall toward the ground. As he hit the ground my view was obstructed by a bus in traffic.’
Mr Graimann rushed to help but there was nothing anyone could do. Mr Halligan, an Irishman who lived in Stuttgart, had suffered fatal head injuries. Tests showed that he had no drugs or alcohol in his system.
Mr Graimann told the court that his fellow tourists had been discussing notorious suicide spots in the area at the time.
Mr Halligan’s death came after food blogger Wilkes McDermid, 39, tweeted his final meal at Coq d’Argent before leaping to his death in February last year. And South African banker Nico Lambrechts, 46, jumped from the rooftop terrace in October 2012 while experiencing ‘enormous pressure’ from his job.
Rena Begum, a 29-year-old British Library manager, committed suicide at the same spot in September 2012 after a Facebook stalker abused her for her westernised lifestyle. In July 2009, Oxford graduate and Deutsche Bank stockbroker Anjool Malde, 24, fell to his death from the venue holding a glass of champagne. And in May 2007, City marketing executive Richard Ford, 34, died after he plunged from the terrace and landed on a bus. He was a married father and a graduate of Imperial College London.
City of London health and safety officers and coroner Dr Roy Palmer have visited the restaurant, which is said to meet all legal requirements for safety.
Members of Mr Halligan’s family were present as the coroner’s court heard that the restaurant had gone to ‘great lengths’ to prevent suicides, installing the fence and keeping security staff stationed near the terrace at all times.
Recording a verdict of suicide, Dr Palmer said: ‘I think if you jump off a roof in that way, having left those messages, I don’t think there can be any doubt about it.’
He told Mr Halligan’s father and brother: ‘I’m sorry you lost your son and your brother in very sad circumstances.’
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