Tragedy of ‘force of nature’ BBC man

‘BIG PERSONALITY’ FOUND DEAD AFTER CONCERNED COLLEAGUE RAISED ALARM

A BBC worker with a ‘big personality’ tragically took his own life after suffering a series of difficulties, an inquest heard.

Damian Cox, 41, was described as a ‘force of nature’ but was overcome with anxiety and depression when he lost his job, broke up with his partner and hit money troubles, the hearing was told.

He was found hanged in his home on October 30 last year.

The coroner concluded that Mr Cox had taken his own life and said: “It doesn’t seem to me that there was anything anybody could have done.”

Manchester Coroners Court heard how he had lost his job as a technical product manager at the BBC in MediaCity in March last year – a job which he greatly enjoyed.

He was taken back as a contractor but one of his co-workers noticed that he was not his normal self after this point.

Giving evidence at the hearing, Damian’s colleague and friend Spencer Marsden said: “I first met Damian when I started working for the BBC in 2014.

“I was a technician and Damian helped me into the environment and listened to my aspirations and was a strong encouragement to me.

“He was a big personality in MediaCity. He was such a force of nature when he worked here, but when he came back to work as a contractor he had changed.

“On October 30, we were supposed to be giving a presentation but he didn’t turn up for work. I was concerned and I went to his flat. I arrived at his flat and I knew that his family were quite far away, so I managed to rouse his neighbours.

“I knocked for the neighbours on one side to check if it was okay for me to look around the windows.

“I couldn’t see into his bedroom so after a while I phoned back to work to tell them the situation and then knocked on another neighbour’s door to the right-hand side.

“I managed to get a key and I called the police to come to the flat. That’s when they found him.”

Assistant area coroner Angharad Davies gave a conclusion of suicide citing a recent change in law that allows coroners to make that conclusion based on a balance of probabilities rather than the higher standard of ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ used in criminal courts.

She said: “On October 30, 2017, Damian Cox didn’t attend work to do a presentation that he had been working on for some time.

“Spencer Marsden had some concerns and went to his home address. He managed to take down a number to obtain a key for the flat. The police attended and they entered into Mr Cox’s flat where he was found hanging in his bedroom.