Gardener ‘took his own life’ after night in pub

Sep 19 2008 by Paul Mannion, Chester Chronicle

A TEENAGE landscape gardener hanged himself after a night out with friends.

Nineteen-year-old Shane John Gareth Lloyd, of Ince Drive, Farndon was found hanging from a tree by the River Dee near Farndon Boardwalk by a man out walking his dog, Chester coroner’s court heard.

Shane, and friends Sam Norman, of Green Street, Holt and Mark McCann of Park Drive, Farndon, had been drinking at the White Lion pub in Holt on Friday, May 9.

His father Adrian Lloyd said: “He was a happy, contented, hard-working individual. He was looking forward to working on his car and going to Glastonbury in the summer.

“We had been working that day just over the border in Wales and had no problems at all. He left quite early that night at about 6.45pm then came back about 8pm to pick up his coat. That was the last time we saw him. His mum phoned him about 1am and he said ‘leave the door open, I’m a bit drunk but fine’.”

During the night Shane asked his friends if they wanted some cocaine. Mr Norman and Mr McCann said yes and Shane left the pub at about 11.30pm to buy the class A drug from a dealer.

Mark McCann said: “It was a usual Friday night. He asked me if I would like to share [the drugs] with him and I said yes. He came back with it and was absolutely fine. We parted company, he may have left about 20 minutes before, about midnight.

“At about 2.30am I got a phone call saying he was at the boat house in Farndon and I went to meet him. I thought it was unusual for him to be down in a dark place. He looked like he had had a few too many. I asked him if he would come back but he wanted to go home. I said stop being silly and took the rest of the cocaine off him.”

Shane’s body was found hanging from a tree, about three feet from the ground, by Daniel Spry who was walking his dog on May 10, at about 6.45am.

A post-mortem confirmed the cause of death was hanging.

Coroner Nicholas Rheinberg said: “I am satisfied beyond any reasonable doubt that the steps that led to Shane’s death were done by Shane at the time. My verdict is he took his own life.”