“Suicide” verdict On man Found Dead in Shed at Denaby

August 1958

South Yorkshire Times August 23, 1958

“Suicide” verdict
On man Found Dead in Shed at Denaby

At a Conisbrough inquest on Friday the Doncaster Disttict Coroner, Mr. W. H. Carlile, recorded a verdict of “Suicide by hanging, while the balance of mind was disturbed” on Martin Fahey (70), an Irishman, who was found dead in an allotment shed at Denaby last Wednesday,

Intending to spend an evening gardening, a Denaby miner, Reuben Burns, 91a, Cliff View, Denaby, said he went to his allotment on Wednesday and found the man an in his shed. Witness returned home and he and his son went to the police.

P.c. J. C. Sinclair said Fahey had a scarf round his neck and a piece of white string was tied to the scarf and suspended from a beam

It was obvious the man had been dead for some days. “There was no reason to suspect violence. His tie and collar were neat.”

Pathologist, Dr. M. D. Innis, said death was due to asphyxia from hanging and added that in his opinion Fahey had been dead four or five days before witness made the examination on Thursday, August 14th “There were no signs of violence,” he added.

Mr. Harry Wilcock, male nurse at a Wakefield Mental Hospital, said , that Fahey was admitted to the hospital on June 7th as a voluntary patient after he had taken an overdose of sleeping tablets. “He disappeared in August 7th,” he added.

Sister Gabriel, Assistant Mother Superior at a Home for the. Aged and Infirm at Leeds, said that Fahey, whom she thought was aged 70, had lived at the Home from May 1957 until June 1958.

“On June 4th he went out and did not return. He had appeared to be in a depressed state of mind.”