I BATTLED TO SAVE MY BILLY
Zoë Ball on lover’s suicide:
ZOE Ball tried to help her “depressed” boyfriend after he twice attempted suicide, an inquest heard.
Billy Yates, 40, rammed his car into a motorway barrier and then inhaled toxic barbecue fumes before his death last May.
The former Royal Marine and BBC cameraman was worried about a large tax bill and had suffered from depression for 10 years, Westminster Coroner’s Court was told.
He had been prescribed anti-depressants throughout his life.
But Billy and Zoe had a “beautiful relationship” and were the “love of each others’ life” after meeting through their TV work in Greece, his family said. He finally hanged himself with a scarf at his apartment in Putney, southwest London.
The cameraman and technician, who worked on Antiques Roadshow, Xtra Factor and Famous And Fearless, first tried to kill himself in November 2016.
He drove his car into a motorway barrier during a panic attack and was rushed to Kingston Hospital in London, where he told doctors he wanted to kill himself.
Zoe, 47, later paid for a two-week stay at The Priory.
But several months later
Billy deliberately inhaled toxic fumes from a charcoal barbecue in a second attempt on his life.
The next day he phoned an NHS crisis number but did not follow guidelines to go to the accident and emergency department.
Billy had been sober since August 2016 and had attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting two days before his death.
On May 4, he began to drink again and toxicology tests showed him to be just over the drink-drive limit.
In a statement yesterday, his family said: “They had a friendship and beautiful relationship, they were the love of each others’ life.”
Assistant Westminster Coroner Shirley Radcliffe said Billy died of asphyxiation due to a ligature and gave an open verdict.
As he had been drinking in the moments before he died, she said she could not be certain it was not a drunken, impulsive act.
Zoe was inspired to cycle from Blackpool to Brighton for Sport Relief after Billy took his life.
If you need someone to talk to call Samaritans on 116 123 or email jo@ samaritans.org.
‘Love of each others’ life’