A Bucks father ended his own life by slitting his throat in his daughter’s home, an inquest has heard.

Stephen Marshall, a retired painter and decorator, died aged 60 in High Wycombe on September 9, 2021.

At an inquest into his death, held at Beaconsfield Coroners Court on Tuesday, senior coroner for Buckinghamshire Crispin Butler ruled that Mr Marshall died by suicide.

At the inquest, the court heard how Mr Marshall, who lived in Thame, had struggled with mental health issues in the past.

On the day he died, his daughter had become worried about him, and left work early to check if had gone to her house in High Wycombe. When she returned home, she found his body on the ground.

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Reading a statement that Mr Marshall’s daughter had provided to police at the time, Mr Butler said: “He appeared angry, I think it was to do with his mental health.

“My supervisor knew I was worried about him and said I could go home to look for him in my lunch break.

“There was blood everywhere and he was on the floor. I called 999, then I saw the hole in his neck.

“I tried to help him, but I didn’t know what to do.”

Paramedics arrived at the house and tried to treat Mr Marshall, but he was pronounced dead on the scene.

The court heard how Mr Marshall had a history of mental illness and that he had been discharged from the Whiteleaf Centre, a mental health hospital in Aylesbury, two weeks before he died.

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Following his death, Oxford Health launched an investigation into its services and found that there were things its staff could learn from what happened.

A report from the investigation, read out by Mr Butler, said: “Learning from this case will be directly shared with the staff involved and the management team will share the findings to the wider teams for shared learning across the services.”

After reading the findings, Mr Butler added: “There was access to the crisis team if he felt that was appropriate. On this particular day, it doesn’t seem that he did.

Addressing members of Mr Marshall’s family who were in the courtroom, he added: “It’s going to be important for you to remember the good things about Stephen, you have my best wishes in that respect.”

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