Financial adviser shot himself dead after wrongly fearing the sack
A WEALTHY financial adviser was found dead from gunshot wounds after wrongly thinking he would lose his 20-year career over an ‘honest mistake’, an inquest heard.
James Bedingfield, a senior investment director at Investec, was facing an internal investigation after he sent documents to a client without approval.
He had been reassured his job was safe, but was anxious, crying and shaking, and had been left unable to sleep.
On the day of his death, he waited until his partner Andrea Owenova went to collect their two sons from school before taking a taxi to a wood where the couple would often walk together.
He made several frantic calls to the police, ambulance and his loved ones, Chesterfield Coroner’s Court heard.
His last words to a police call handler were: ‘Please hurry’.
But it wasn’t until six hours later that his body was found on a bench with a shotgun by his side. He had suffered severe head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene just after midnight on November 16 last year.
His family have raised concerns about the delay in the police response, and how Investec handled the case, prompting the coroner to adjourn the inquest pending further inquiries.
The inquest heard that Mr Bedingfield, 45, had made a success of his career advising on investments and pensions, and his portfolio of clients was worth £425 million. He lived with his partner in a £1.3 million seven-bedroom property in Dronfield, Derbyshire. Mr Bedingfield was described as ‘methodical’ and ‘ conscientious’ as well as a man ‘who liked to be in control’. He was loved by his family and well liked by his clients. The keen sportsman, who enjoyed cycling and cricket, was also ‘community minded’ and had raised more than £1 million for charity. Miss Owenova said he was ‘very focused’ on his career.
‘A few weeks before he died he’d sent some paperwork to a client which he should not have done. It was an honest mistake,’ she added. ‘After that he began to doubt himself. The company offered to give him time off but he carried on because that’s the type of person he was.
‘He was worried what other people would think of him. At times he was crying and shaking, which was not like Andrew at all.’
Days before his death, Mr Bedingfield had been summoned to London to meet the company’s UK managing director over the investigation into his work. In a statement read to the court, divisional director Matthew Beddall said Mr Bedingfield had taken on an outside client linked to the transfer of former British Steel pensions, to whom he sent some documents without approval.
The day before Mr Bedingfield died, IT technicians had upgraded the computers in the firm’s Sheffield office, where he was based.
Mr Beddall said: ‘I think James thought we were spying on him, but it was all pre-planned. He would not have lost his job.’
The coroner will give his conclusion when the inquest resumes at a later date. To contact the Samaritans, call 116 123 or visit www.samaritans.org