A homeless man died after he hanged himself in a High Wycombe wood, a coroner has ruled.

Stefan Field passed away aged 28 on September 16, 2021, in Castlefield Wood. He was of no fixed address when he died but was from the High Wycombe area.

An inquest into the death of Mr Field took place at Beaconsfield Coroners’ Court on March 10.

The court heard how on September 16, 2021, Mr Field’s body was discovered in the wood by a dog walker at around 6am.

In a statement made to police after the discovery, the dog walker said that he first thought Mr Field was another walker, before realising that he was not moving.

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His statement, which was read out in court by senior coroner for Buckinghamshire, Crispin Butler, said: “I saw a figure that looked like they were standing across my path. There was no one else around.

“At first, I thought it was someone walking, I walked towards the figure and could see a man hanging from a tree.”

The coroner Mr Butler told the court that Mr Field had died before he was discovered, and that there were no life-saving opportunities.

Mr Field was from a large, loving family, many of whom attended the inquest.

The court heard how Mr Field had been sleeping rough in the area, and that his family members would meet up with him occasionally to help him and give him money for food.

One statement suggested that Mr Field had gone at least two days without eating not long before he died.

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The court also heard that Mr Field had been suffering with mental health issues, and while he had threatened to self-harm in the past, he had never followed through on the threats before.

Mr Butler read a statement provided by his brother, Peter, which said: “Stefan was the sort of person that didn’t share his problems with other people, he kept them to himself.

“Other than borrowing money and buying food, he never told me about any other issues.

“He never threatened to kill himself around me, I think he would have known I would have physically stopped him from doing anything.”

Mr Butler told the court that Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust was investigating its own services following Mr Field’s death.

The coroner said: “They have some actions they want to take forward in terms of better communication between services – it’s important that there’s some learning.”

At the end of the inquest, the coroner ruled that Mr Field died by suicide as a result of hanging himself.

In his final remarks to the family, he said: “Whatever you do, you mustn’t look back for clues that you think you missed, because I haven’t seen them.

“You need to remember the good things about Stefan and not what we have had to talk about today, and not the issues he was going through in those last few weeks that have caused ripples around the friends and family.” 

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