Former lawyer hanged himself

Oct 12 2007 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

A FORMER Knowsley council solicitor was found hanging in the garage of his Wirral home.

An inquest into the death of Raymond Smith, 57, who died in July, heard he had suffered depression after the death of his wife two years earlier.

Mr Smith, of Heathbank Avenue, Irby, was discovered by a friend, Julie Winton, who called at his home on Monday, July 30.

The coroner’s court at Wallasey Town Hall was told Miss Winton had been unable to get an answer at the house.

She had then opened the garage door and seen Mr Smith hanging from a rope suspended from the ceiling and had immediately run to a neighbour’s for help.

Mr Smith had been widowed for two years after his wife died while having major heart surgery, the inquest was told.

Since then, the solicitor, who had worked for Knowsley council until 1990, had been suffering from anxiety and depression, and also had a mild form of multiple sclerosis.

Wirral coroner Christopher Johnson said: “The manner and circumstances leave me in no doubt that Mr Smith did intend to die and did take his own life”.

He recorded a verdict that he had killed himself.