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Scot Young inquest: Property tycoon told former girlfriend 'I'm going to jump, stay on the phone', hearing told Scot Young inquest: Coroner rules death of tycoon 'can't be called suicide'
(about 4 hours later)
Property tycoon Scot Young told his former model girlfriend he was going to jump out of his four-storey flat moments before he was found impaled on railings, an inquest has heard. The mystery of how the property entrepreneur Scot Young died has deepened after a coroner ruled there was no evidence his death was suspicious but there was insufficient evidence of suicide.
The bankrupt businessman, who was sent to prison during a public divorce row over a multimillion-pound settlement, had also texted American Noelle Reno to say he had “hit rock bottom”, a coroner was told. An inquest heard how he died impaled on railings outside a central London flat he lived in with his former girlfriend in December 2014.
Young, who battled drug problems and was diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder, had been discharged from hospital hours before his death outside luxury flats in Marylebone, central London, in December. Westminster Coroner’s Court heard how moments before he died Mr Young, 52, telephoned former girlfriend Noelle Reno, saying he was going to jump out the fourth-storey flat window.
He had been receiving treatment following a pyschotic episode in which he believed his ex-girlfriend may have been part of a “conspiracy to kill him”, an inquest at Westminster Coroner's Court heard. However, lawyers for the dead man’s two daughters Sasha and Scarlett told the court they believe he was pushed from the window and accused police of failing properly to investigate after assuming too quickly his death was “not suspicious.”
Mr Young, jailed last year for contempt of court during a bitter public divorce battle with his former wife Michelle who accused him of hiding away his £400m fortune, had been released from a psychiatric unit earlier in the day and arrived at the flat to discover Ms Reno did not want him to remain living there and had called a locksmith to change the locks.
“He was desperate, more than I have ever seen him,” Ms Reno said. She said he was sober but “desperate in a different kind of way”. When she told him to leave he cried. “It was the first time I had actually seen him cry,” she said.
The body of Scot Young was found outside flats in Marleybone, central London, in December (PA)The body of Scot Young was found outside flats in Marleybone, central London, in December (PA)
Ms Reno, who appeared in the Ladies Of London reality TV show with Mr Young, told the court he unexpectedly turned up at their flat on December 8 after she had arranged to change the locks at the property. The couple, who had ceased their relationship two months earlier but continued living together, argued and Ms Reno left as she “felt unsafe” after he became angry and irate.
“He was desperate, more than I have ever seen him,” Ms Reno said. Shortly afterwards, Mr Young, who had been planning a holiday in Thailand, texted her saying: “Now I’ve hit rock bottom as you will see! Loved you like no other. Love you always and forever.” He then phoned her saying: “I’m going to jump out of the window. Stay on the phone, you will hear me.” Ms Reno said “something in his voice made her anxious” and she dialled 999.
“Desperate in a different kind of way. He also called both daughters, leaving a voicemail message for one of them saying: “Hi darling. Just want to say love you loads. Miss you terribly,” before adding: “Love you. Bye.”
“He was completely sober. Police said the flat was locked and showed no signs of forced entry nor evidence of any struggle inside. A soft drink, cigarettes and a lighter were found on an open window sill.
“It was the first time I had actually seen him cry.” Asked why she sought to change the locks Ms Reno said she the flat tenancy was in her name and she was free to do so. Ms Reno said the flat rental was £9,000 a month of which she paid half and a friend of Scot Young paid the other half. She said Mr Young had found it impossible to work because of his ex-wife’s financial pursuit of him. He had borrowed money and would get threatening calls from people seeking repayment. He was very secretive and would go out of the room to take the calls, she said.
Ms Reno said she dropped her Blackberry phone in the toilet as Mr Young became “angry and irate” when she repeatedly refused to allow him to stay at the flat. Mr Young had earlier been discharged from a psychiatric unit after an episode of drug-induced psychosis. The businessman had been diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder some years earlier. The GP Soraya Meer said he was also treated for drug and alcohol abuse.
After Ms Reno left the property, Mr Young sent a text to her minutes before his death which read: “Now I've hit rock bottom as you will see! Loved you like no other. Love you always and forever.” Ms Reno, who dated Young, on and off for five-and-a-half years, said his mental health suffered a “real decline” after an unfavourable ruling in his divorce case in October 2014. Days before his death he demonstrated signs of paranoia. “He felt there was a conspiracy to kill him, people were following him and believed his girlfriend might be a part of the conspiracy” because of the unusual way she was kept turning the flat lights on and off. After hearing a male voice telling him it was “the end of the world”, he sought medical help.
He then told her on the phone: “I'm going to jump out of the window. The psychiatrist Dr Rachel Berg said Mr Young had once previously taken an overdose but survived. “He said his daughters were something worth living for and actually prevented him from doing that,” she said.
“Stay on the phone, you will hear me”, before she rang police. Mr Young showed no suicidal tendencies when Dr Berg discharged him. “I found him very stable in his mental state” and said she was “shocked” to later learn of his death.
Mr Young had also left a voicemail message to one of his daughters minutes before his death, in which he said: “Hi darling. Just want to say love you loads. Miss you terribly,” before he added: “Love you. Bye.” Toxicologist Dr Susan Paterson, said traces of prescribed therapeutic drugs were found in blood tests but no alcohol or illicit drugs.
Ms Reno told the inquest that Mr Young had previously threatened to harm himself during a “severe psychotic breakdown” in 2012. A drug test of his hair revealed one of the highest readings the laboratory had ever seen but the test was only indicative of historical use, she said.
“He had a knife, it was very scary, but I have never actually seen him actually physically do anything,” she added. The coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe, recording a narrative verdict, said she believed the police were entirely correct to conclude the death was not suspicious but added there was insufficient evidence to determine his state of mind when he came out of the window.
Ms Reno said that the tycoon had suffered a “real decline” after an unfavourable ruling in his divorce case in October 2014.
“I think he was upset about many, many things,” Ms Reno told the inquest.
Ms Reno - who dated Mr Young on and off for five-and-a-half years - said he told her he had taken cocaine every day for three weeks before he was admitted to hospital in early December.
The inquest heard he felt under “huge stress” from his bankruptcy and high-profile divorce in the months before his death.
In a statement read to the court by Coroner Shirley Radcliffe, Mr Young's GP Dr Soraya Meer said he had been treated for bipolar affective disorder and for cocaine and alcohol abuse since 2011.
“He reported being under huge stress due to his bankruptcy and high profile divorce,” she said.
Mr Young was jailed for six months for contempt of court during his high-profile matrimonial row with former partner Michelle as she accused him of hiding away more than £400 million.
A High Court hearing was told that Mr Young's estranged wife remained empty-handed more than three months after she was awarded £20 million by a judge.
Psychiatrist Dr Rachel Berg told the inquest that Mr Young had previously taken an overdose of sleeping pills and anti-depressants in 2006.
Days before he was found dead, Mr Young complained of having trouble sleeping and paranoid thoughts, the inquest heard.
Dr Berg told the coroner's court: “He felt there was a conspiracy to kill him and felt that his girlfriend might be a part of the conspiracy because she was turning the lights on and off.”
After hearing a male voice telling him it was “the end of the world”, he requested admission to hospital on December 4 2014, where he reported having thoughts of harming himself again.
“He said his children acted as a protective force, that his daughters were preventing him from doing that, that they were something worth living for and actually prevented him from doing that,” Dr Berg told the inquest.
Mr Young admitted to “heavy” cocaine use at this time, which he described as unusual for him, and that he had been drinking “six large vodkas” a day, the inquest heard.
The court was told Mr Young was discharged from hospital on the day of his death after his latest psychotic episode was considered to be “drug-induced”.
Dr Berg said: “He wasn't voicing suicidal thoughts or thoughts of hurting himself.
“I found him very stable in his mental state.
“There was absolutely nothing inappropriate or unusual about how he was behaving.”
Dr Berg said she was “shocked” to learn Mr Young had died hours later.
“It was really unexpected,” she told the court.
“It was certainly not something I would have predicted at the time I saw him.”
Dr Nathaniel Cary, a pathologist who carried out a post-mortem examination on Mr Young's body, told the inquest that the cause of death had been “multiple injuries consistent with a fall from height and impaling”.
He told the inquest: “I concluded that death would have been almost instantaneous upon impact, in other words he would have felt nothing about it.”
Dr Susan Paterson, who conducted a toxicology report, said cocaine was not found in Mr Young's blood following his death.
But levels of cocaine detected in his hair, which indicated drug use over the last six months, were “very, very high”, she said.
The inquest continues.
PA
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