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There are countless factors
that can lead to your death.

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00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:14,880
As Senior Coroner, I deal with
nearly 4,500 fatalities a year.

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NARRATOR: The coroner
can make any inquiries necessary

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to find a cause of death.

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The police act
on behalf of the coroner.

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If the coroner asks, then we do it.

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With unprecedented access,

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we follow the coroner's
full investigation.

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Somebody somewhere will want to know
that this person's died.

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We're taking pieces in a jigsaw
to formulate a cause of death.

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From the moment of arrival
in the mortuary

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to the final conclusion
of the inquest.

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All rise.

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I'm sorry that you're attending
court under these circumstances,

15
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and I appreciate that the evidence

16
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that you will hear today
may be distressing.

17
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I feel like no big event happened
to cause this.

18
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I need answers, I need to know
what happened that night.

19
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If you die here,
if it's violent, unnatural,

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or of an unknown cause,
it's my job to find out how.

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I was 13 when I met Jake.

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And then, when I got to 16,

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that's when we ended up
being together.

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He was just daft, so daft.

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You watch videos now,
and it's of him, like,

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dancing in the front room,
and he always just made me smile.

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I remember once he said to me,

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"I promise to make you laugh
for the rest of your life."

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I loved everything about him.

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He's all I've ever known in every,
you know...

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That's...

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It was just what I was used to.

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He was my best friend.
We were always together.

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Sorry.

35
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Yeah.

36
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I got a text to say
that Jake hadn't gone to work,

37
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and they'd not heard
anything off him.

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Sometimes, he'd skive
and have a day off work

39
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if he had a bit of a hangover

40
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from partying too hard
with his friends the day before,

41
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and that's what I thought it was.

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So, then I've rang my partner
to go and check on him.

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It only takes minutes
to get up to his flat.

44
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My partner's gone into the flat.

45
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I've rang him, like,
ten minutes later,

46
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and he's told me, "It's not good."

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SIRENS BLARE

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I've just ran outside in my 'jamas,
got my neighbour to watch the girls,

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and ran up there as fast as I could.

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I remember being in the car,
thinking,

51
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"How are all these people
on the road,

52
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"just carrying on
with their normal business?

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"Do you not realise
my whole world's just fallen apart?"

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It was just... It was horrible.

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WOMAN: Yeah, yeah.

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POLICE OFFICER:  OK, OK.

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We've received a referral
from Lancashire police overnight

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in relation to a 26-year-old male
called Jake Broughton.

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Police received an emergency call

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after some of Jake's friends
and family

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weren't able to get hold of him.

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His family have gone to his house
to check on him

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and check he was OK.

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But sadly, they have entered
the house and found him deceased.

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So, this is Jake Broughton.

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Dr Sissons will be carrying out
an external examination on Jake.

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My purpose is to check over the body

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to make sure there's no evidence
of third party involvement

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and to ascertain
that it's consistent

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with what the police found.

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There's no obvious
previous injuries there.

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Can we have a look at his back?
Yeah, of course.

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And there's nothing at all there.

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I'm basically looking
for any previous self-harm injuries,

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particularly to his wrists,
checking the hands and the knuckles

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to make sure he's not been involved
in any altercation.

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But at the moment, I...
I can't see any such marks.

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So, we've identified
a broad ligature mark,

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which extends from
below the right chin

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to the occipital region.

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When it happens
completely out of the blue,

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I think it must be so hard

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to deal with for...
for all those concerned,

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and it is massively sad.

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In terms of Jake's medical history,

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he doesn't have
any medical problems,

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he doesn't have a complex history
in terms of his mental health.

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So, sadly, it does leave
a lot of questions for the family.

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There's a small bruise
on the outer aspect

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of the right upper arm,
3x1 cm,

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but apart from this,

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there are no other marks of injury
or violence.

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That's me done.

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Jake's death is unexpected.

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His family have had no inkling
of what was about to occur.

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We're trying to rule things out

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and give them the answer
as to what caused the death.

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But until we have all the pieces,

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we can't give the family
the answers they need.

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I can't understand it.

101
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Because he always seemed so full
of life every time we saw him,

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you know, big smiles,
belly laughing and, you know...

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He started a new job
and were enjoying that.

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He had an air hostess girlfriend.

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You know, you think
everything would be okey-dokey.

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He's never said anything.

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He's always been happy.
We-we...

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We didn't think
there'd be anything wrong.

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Right now, we've got a lot of
questions going round our heads,

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but we don't have
the answers for it.

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NARRATOR: At Jake Broughton's
external examination,

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the coroner has ordered samples

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to be taken
for the toxicology lab...

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We've got blood in vitros.

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..but has not requested any
internal investigations or scans.

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Toxicology is often important
in situations like this

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to try and ascertain
whether there was any drugs

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in the system of the deceased
at the time of his death.

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Having completed the examination,

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I just provisionally give
a cause of death,

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and that's followed
by a typed detailed report

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of my findings and conclusions.

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At the time of his death,

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Jake was training to become
a qualified electrician...

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..working alongside
his best friend, Jack.

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This van, we spent every day in.

127
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Every morning, I'd get in the van,
connect my phone to Bluetooth,

128
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but I've always gotta change
the Bluetooth

129
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because the first name's Jake.

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So every day, I've gotta change it
from Jake's phone to mine.

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I haven't brought myself
to delete it yet.

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I think if I delete that,
it's like, it's over, it's done.

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Working with your best friend
was the best.

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The best time ever, you could say.

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Every day, it was a case of

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"what can we do that's funny
and make each other laugh?"

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We were working
at a block of offices,

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and the wall was getting taken out
the next day,

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so we decided we were gonna

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cut our own life-size cut-outs
of each other within the walls.

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LAUGHTER

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JAKE:  'Ey!
LAUGHS

143
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Yeah,
it's hard to fill that gap.

144
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I've got another best friend
that works with me,

145
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but it was the three of us.

146
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Now it's the two.

147
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Jack's father, John, was with Jake
the day before he died.

148
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We have to do a health and safety
exam every three years,

149
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and Jake got the highest score.

150
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Because the picture's still
on the computer in the account room.

151
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Yeah.
That were the last day we saw him.

152
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Yeah. He was supposed to be in

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morning the next day
at quarter to seven,

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but obviously he didn't turn in.

155
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There was nothing leading up to it
that we were aware of at all.

156
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It was just, like, out of the blue.

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It's...

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It was quite a shock

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because you never expect
anything like that at all.

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It's sad, innit?
It is.

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HE SNIFFS

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We'd only seen him, what,
less than a week before, you know?

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All fine, laughing and joking,
usual Jake.

164
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When we went into the flat,

165
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there were a delivery from Amazon,

166
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and it's secret Santa things
for work.

167
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So why? Why... You think,
"Why would you do that?"

168
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Like... you know?

169
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Everything appeared normal.

170
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He was just, like,
a star entertainer.

171
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Always happy.

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He always had a lot of energy
from an early age.

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He was so friendly.

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You know, we'd be sat in the house,

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and there'd be a string of girls
outside the window.

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But, yeah,
he had everything going for him.

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Literally everything.

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DOG BARKS

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Because I'm mentioning his name,
he sits there,

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looks towards the patio doors,
waiting for him to walk in.

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It's as though it's not true,

182
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and he's just gonna walk in
that door.

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That night, he'd been out
for a meal with his friends,

184
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he'd been to work.

185
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I feel like no big event happened
to cause this.

186
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He very rarely spoke about
how he felt.

187
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Maybe every now and again,

188
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he would express
a few concerns about...

189
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..you know,
he was upset about a situation.

190
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But comments
about his mental health

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or being unhappy
were very few and far between,

192
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and he only showed
very small snippets of sadness.

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LAUGHTER

194
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He was like the life and soul.

195
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He'd always be there at the parties
and out on the weekend.

196
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Jake was such a lovely lad
with a big personality.

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He just liked to party,
have a good time with his mates.

198
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But his drinking...

199
00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:45,520
obviously, the recreational drugs...

200
00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:50,360
..it scared me, really scared me.

201
00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:55,680
He wouldn't openly tell you
that that was an issue.

202
00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:58,240
Or say that he had a problem,
he was very in denial with it.

203
00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:02,840
I would say that it was a problem,
but he would not openly admit that.

204
00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:14,480
SIRENS BLARE

205
00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:20,560
In Blackburn,
paramedics are rushing

206
00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:23,680
to the home
of 69-year-old Leslie Hodgkinson,

207
00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:26,160
who's been found unresponsive.

208
00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:31,080
Attempts to revive him
are unsuccessful,

209
00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:33,400
and he's pronounced dead at home.

210
00:14:42,760 --> 00:14:45,240
Initially, I've attended scene

211
00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:47,120
following the report
of a sudden death.

212
00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:50,440
The police protocol is for us
to attend on behalf of the coroner.

213
00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:52,200
We have to check the body
for any marks

214
00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:54,920
to see if there's
anything that would show

215
00:14:54,960 --> 00:14:56,640
that it would be
a suspicious death.

216
00:14:57,920 --> 00:14:59,200
Obviously for dignity,

217
00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:02,160
I've asked the family members
to leave the room.

218
00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:12,200
He was very gaunt, quite slim,

219
00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:15,000
weak around the arms,
like, not a lot of muscle mass,

220
00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:17,720
which we would expect
within the elderly.

221
00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:30,880
The thing that struck me is
it was a bit of a treasure trove.

222
00:15:30,920 --> 00:15:33,640
He had animal collectibles
around the house,

223
00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:36,400
and it was really a representation,
I thought,

224
00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:38,320
of what his character was.

225
00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:40,200
It was very much his space.

226
00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:55,960
We've had a death referred to us

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00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,680
of a 69-year-old gentleman,
Mr Leslie Hodgkinson.

228
00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:01,120
And we are investigating this death

229
00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:04,760
because the family tell us that
during his working life

230
00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:07,440
as an apprentice in a local factory,

231
00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:11,960
Mr Hodgkinson was involved in
the cutting up of asbestos sheets.

232
00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:16,640
The area in which we work

233
00:16:16,680 --> 00:16:19,920
was historically
a very industrial area

234
00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:22,000
with a large working class
population.

235
00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:25,880
So, there was a large number of
gentlemen of Mr Hodgkinson's age

236
00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:28,360
who were employed
in the local mills and factories.

237
00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:33,120
Health and safety was very different
all those years ago.

238
00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:34,800
In fact, it was probably
non-existent.

239
00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:36,160
So unfortunately,

240
00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:40,640
exposure to asbestos is something
that we do see quite often.

241
00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:44,320
So, what we need to establish now
is whether or not

242
00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:48,400
that exposure to asbestos has caused
or contributed to his death.

243
00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:55,600
A limited postmortem
has been ordered

244
00:16:55,640 --> 00:16:58,680
to focus on his heart
and on his lungs.

245
00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:02,520
That's where the illness that
has killed him is most likely to be.

246
00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:10,040
So, I'm just gonna remove
the heart and lungs,

247
00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:12,160
so it's limiting the postmortem
as much as possible

248
00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:14,640
so that we, you know, disturb
the body no more than we need to.

249
00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:20,120
We know this man's a joiner,
and people working as joiners

250
00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:22,880
might come across
large quantities of asbestos

251
00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:24,240
which they have to deal with.

252
00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:27,440
Asbestos can cause tumours
in the lung,

253
00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:32,000
which I'll be looking out for today,
and they can also cause fibrosis.

254
00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:35,520
That's defuse scarring of the lungs,
and that's called asbestosis.

255
00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:43,760
So it's immediately clear that there
is some asbestos-related disease.

256
00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:49,800
We've got a big lump
of calcified fibrous tissue.

257
00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:51,360
They're called plaques,

258
00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:53,760
and that's actually stuck down
to the lung here.

259
00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:56,320
So that plaque, although
it's originated from the chest wall,

260
00:17:56,360 --> 00:18:00,760
it's actually become stuck down
to the lungs.

261
00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:03,400
It's not a serious condition,
but it's indicator

262
00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:06,080
that the person
has been exposed to asbestos.

263
00:18:07,360 --> 00:18:09,920
The invasive postmortem
needs histology

264
00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:14,720
to confirm whether asbestos
has contributed to Leslie's death.

265
00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:18,280
I'm taking lots of small pieces
of lung tissue from both lungs,

266
00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:21,040
send them off to the laboratory,
and they process them,

267
00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:23,760
and we end up having
very thin sections

268
00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:25,280
to look at down the microscope

269
00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:29,640
to see if there's any
asbestos-induced disease going on.

270
00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:38,240
Asbestos is made up
of very tiny, thin crystals

271
00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:40,720
that you can inhale into your lungs.

272
00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:46,440
In the 1960s and '70s, it was
a very common building material.

273
00:18:46,480 --> 00:18:50,760
It was unknown that the dust
caused significant illness

274
00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:53,160
for people breathing it in.

275
00:18:55,600 --> 00:19:00,080
I'm involved with cases like this,
I'd say once, twice a month?

276
00:19:00,120 --> 00:19:01,600
Yeah.
Once a fortnight.

277
00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:05,080
So there's still
a lot of asbestos-related disease

278
00:19:05,120 --> 00:19:07,880
to people getting exposed
in the '70s and '80s.

279
00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:10,160
The repressions
of the asbestos used is,

280
00:19:10,200 --> 00:19:11,880
you know, 20, 30 years later,

281
00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:14,080
we're still seeing it, aren't we,
yeah?

282
00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:20,400
Exposure to asbestos
doesn't immediately cause problems,

283
00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:23,560
but when it does develop problems,
they're usually serious.

284
00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:30,080
Dr Sissons must also take samples
of Leslie's heart.

285
00:19:30,120 --> 00:19:33,520
After we've examined the lungs
and the heart,

286
00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:35,600
we'll hopefully be able to provide
a cause of death.

287
00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:40,200
Right, I'm done.

288
00:19:50,440 --> 00:19:52,720
The results
of the external examination

289
00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:55,080
on 26-year-old Jake Broughton

290
00:19:55,120 --> 00:19:59,000
are being reviewed
by coroner's officer Chloe.

291
00:19:59,040 --> 00:20:01,520
Dr Sissons said that
the circumstances of the death,

292
00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:04,280
together with the findings
of the external examination,

293
00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,360
are fully consistent
with a death by hanging.

294
00:20:07,400 --> 00:20:09,800
Er, we now need to wait
for the toxicology,

295
00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:11,360
which could take a few weeks.

296
00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:22,080
Dr Adeley has asked me
to perform a drugs screen

297
00:20:22,120 --> 00:20:24,000
to look for any drugs
that may have been taken

298
00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:25,560
in the hours before he died.

299
00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:27,240
That may be prescription drugs,

300
00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:29,040
to make sure
he was adhering to drugs,

301
00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:31,560
or maybe he might have taken
illicit compounds,

302
00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:34,520
or possible that he'd been
drinking alcohol before his death.

303
00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:41,120
Drink or drugs can affect
the way that you perceive

304
00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:44,640
obstacles or difficulties
when you're under the influence.

305
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:49,080
We don't know whether or not
he's had a drink,

306
00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:52,680
taken drugs,
and whether or not this has affected

307
00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:54,480
the way that he makes decisions.

308
00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:59,320
Our testing can provide the families
with some useful knowledge

309
00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:01,560
of what happened in the hours
before that person died.

310
00:21:05,240 --> 00:21:08,080
I do think something
will come back in toxicology.

311
00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:12,240
I don't think he'd have done that
on a sane mind.

312
00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:18,080
Because, like... Arlo was his world,

313
00:21:18,120 --> 00:21:19,400
like, my first child.

314
00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:22,440
ARLO: One more time.
JAKE:  One more time.

315
00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:24,720
Jake's turn!
SINGING: Rosy time.

316
00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:27,480
SINGING:  Rosy time.

317
00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:31,880
We used to call him Funcle Jake,
so he was the fun uncle.

318
00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:33,560
He'd dance around with them,

319
00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:37,400
soak them in summer, like...
water fights.

320
00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:41,200
# We all fall down! #
Whoa! Ah.

321
00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,240
Now sit on the floor. Get him!
JAKE SQUEALS

322
00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:47,480
I'm sure he wouldn't have done that
to the kids.

323
00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:50,320
Spin it around, Jake!
I am doing, look. Whoo!

324
00:21:50,360 --> 00:21:52,560
Whoo!
I can have it?

325
00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:54,240
Yeah, there you go.

326
00:21:54,280 --> 00:21:55,800
I had a conversation
with his niece,

327
00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:59,360
and she said,
"When Jake comes back down..."

328
00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,600
And I said, "Jake isn't going to
come back down."

329
00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:05,480
And she said, "Why?" And I said,
"Because he likes it up there."

330
00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:08,560
And she said,
"But he liked it down here."

331
00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:12,240
And that really hurt because...

332
00:22:13,720 --> 00:22:16,000
I THOUGHT he liked it down here.

333
00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:18,760
But he obviously
didn't like it enough to stay.

334
00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:34,280
NARRATOR: Coroner's officers
are investigating the death

335
00:22:34,320 --> 00:22:36,880
of 69-year-old Leslie Hodgkinson

336
00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:39,400
and whether it's connected
to asbestos.

337
00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,480
Leslie was a member
of his local Working Men's Club.

338
00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:53,720
CHATTER

339
00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:02,200
Les were your typical working class
man from a north-west town.

340
00:23:03,200 --> 00:23:05,640
Soon as he walked in t'room,
it lit up.

341
00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:08,160
You knew you were in
for a good night once Les come in.

342
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:15,520
I heard about Les's passing
through... through a phone call.

343
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:18,640
Soon as I come off the phone,
my wife said, "Who were that?"

344
00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:22,240
And-and I said, "It's Les."
And she knew.

345
00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:24,640
She knew right away
to come and give me a hug,

346
00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:26,120
and I'm not one for hugs,

347
00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:28,560
but she knew that night,
I needed a hug

348
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:30,840
cos I'd lost my best friend.

349
00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:32,040
Yeah.

350
00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:40,240
I think you can count
your true friends on one hand.

351
00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:43,240
And I think
he took three of my fingers up.

352
00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:46,840
So, that's how close it were,
and that's... It hit me bad.

353
00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:52,520
His love for birds
were unbelievable.

354
00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,400
We used to go many a time
over to Manchester

355
00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:57,360
to do his pigeon racing.

356
00:23:57,400 --> 00:23:59,600
He always made sure
he'd come back the Bolton way

357
00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:01,880
where he could go and get a pasty.

358
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:06,920
We used to have
a lot of conversations,

359
00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:09,440
heart-to-heart conversations,

360
00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:14,080
and, er... he used to tell me
about his joinery days.

361
00:24:14,120 --> 00:24:19,200
In them days, joiners shops
usually made coffins as a sideline,

362
00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:22,000
and Les were cutting the asbestos
to go inside the coffins.

363
00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:25,880
So he certainly did use asbestos,

364
00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:28,440
but it was the in material,
weren't it?

365
00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:30,040
It were used for everything.

366
00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:33,840
See, there were no health
and safety, were there? No.

367
00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:36,080
The only health and safety
is you making sure

368
00:24:36,120 --> 00:24:38,520
that you had your flask filled
of a morning.

369
00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:41,240
Not what they had...
you had on your feet and gloves

370
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:43,640
and goggles, it were
what you had in your thermos.

371
00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:44,960
HE CHUCKLES

372
00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:55,400
At the lab, samples taken
from Leslie Hodgkinson's heart

373
00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:57,800
and lungs are being prepared.

374
00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:04,720
So, we check
what size the tissue is.

375
00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:07,520
We'll select
an appropriately-sized mould,

376
00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:10,520
fill that up with molten wax,

377
00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:13,720
and then we position the tissue
in there.

378
00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:16,400
And that will hold it in position
in the wax as it cools.

379
00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:19,480
Now we want them to be solidified,

380
00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:22,320
so this is a cold plate,
and it's chilling those blocks down,

381
00:25:22,360 --> 00:25:24,400
so that the wax
will be nice and hard

382
00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:26,280
with the tissue supported inside it.

383
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:35,640
So, this is the microtome.

384
00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:38,760
So, every time we turn the handle,
it moves forward by four microns,

385
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:40,400
and that's about one cell thick.

386
00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:42,520
And we've got these
incredibly sharp blades.

387
00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,600
They're really, really sharp,
so we have to be very careful.

388
00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:48,240
We slot it into there,
and that grips it in place.

389
00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:52,720
Moving this backwards to align
the tissue up with that blade...

390
00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:56,280
..really gently and slowly.

391
00:26:09,040 --> 00:26:12,240
So, we lay them down
onto some nice warm water,

392
00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:15,240
and that just eases out
any crinkles.

393
00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:18,200
Just guide it
onto the glass slide.

394
00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:22,640
And then that's gonna dry out here.

395
00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:29,520
The final step
is to dip them in dye

396
00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:33,200
to make the slides easier to see
under a microscope.

397
00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:38,440
Now that they've been stained up
with the hemotoxin and the eosin,

398
00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:40,040
the pathologist
will then be able to see

399
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:42,440
all the different tissue components
down the microscope.

400
00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:44,360
He'll be able to see
each individual cell

401
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:46,000
and all the architecture
of the tissue,

402
00:26:46,040 --> 00:26:47,640
how it would have looked
in the patient.

403
00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:00,120
I'd definitely like to know
what the cause of his death were,

404
00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:02,680
because if he died with asbestosis,

405
00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:04,480
someone's the cause of that.

406
00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:13,720
Coroner's officers
are investigating

407
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:18,080
the unexpected death
of 26-year-old Jake Broughton.

408
00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:22,200
His family are still processing
what's happened.

409
00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:30,680
I'm going to a friend of mine.

410
00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:34,280
It's a salon for a tattoo.

411
00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:37,240
First-ever tattoo,
never thought I'd ever get one,

412
00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:40,000
but it's in memory of Jake.

413
00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:44,240
It's just an imprint of him
on me for... forever.

414
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:49,600
I want Jake's name,
and I want underneath,

415
00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:54,800
"Me, my shadow and I,"
because that's what he was.

416
00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:06,640
Hello.
Are you OK?

417
00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:08,400
Give us a hug.
Hey.

418
00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:15,080
Right. Let's, er...
Let's go?

419
00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:16,840
Yeah, yeah.

420
00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:19,840
So, nice and still, OK?
Mmm.

421
00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:21,920
As still as you can be.

422
00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:31,800
He'd be laughing at me now,
thinking, "You silly old beggar."

423
00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:33,240
Yeah.

424
00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:36,680
I just can't get my head round it.

425
00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:41,120
I don't think I ever will.

426
00:28:43,240 --> 00:28:47,440
And then you start asking yourself,
"Well, why? Why?"

427
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:49,880
That's the biggest question,
isn't it?  Yeah.

428
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:54,320
I just don't get it,
but at the end of the day,

429
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:58,640
I think men have been conditioned
not to speak

430
00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:01,720
and keep their feelings inside.

431
00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:04,760
As a man as well, it's the idea
that men should be men,

432
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:06,440
and... and... and they shouldn't...

433
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:08,000
But that's so wrong.

434
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:11,160
It doesn't matter
who you are or what you are,

435
00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:14,480
it's OK to talk when we're not OK.

436
00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:17,520
Yeah. Yeah.
HE INHALES

437
00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:29,400
Jake's family believe
that he may have been hiding

438
00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:32,440
mental health problems
around the time of his death.

439
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:41,640
His dad, Keith, is heading to meet
a men's suicide prevention charity

440
00:29:41,680 --> 00:29:45,200
near his home in Glasgow
to search for answers.

441
00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:49,000
Hiya.
Hiya, pal, in you come.

442
00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:51,360
I'll just put this away,
so there's plenty of space

443
00:29:51,400 --> 00:29:53,080
for guys to come in, eh?
OK.

444
00:29:53,120 --> 00:29:55,160
How many people are you expecting?

445
00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:57,760
We've been averaging about 14,
15 here, so...

446
00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:02,280
15?  Aye, which is good numbers, eh?
So we'll see who turns up tonight.

447
00:30:02,320 --> 00:30:04,400
Obviously, we started in 2016

448
00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:06,520
after a young man, Andy Roberts,
took his own life.

449
00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:08,040
We just wanted
to stop other families

450
00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:10,040
going through that loss
and devastation and...

451
00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:11,640
Yeah.
..and encourage a conversation.

452
00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:14,360
Cos we're shit as it is... As men,
we're shit at talking about the...

453
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:16,000
the stuff
that we need to talk about, eh?

454
00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:17,440
Cos we're not brought up like that.

455
00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:19,280
So, I think it's important to...

456
00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:21,880
to open up
and normalise a conversation

457
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:24,040
around mental health,
and particularly, suicide,

458
00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:26,040
because it's still seen
as a taboo subject.

459
00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:30,880
From my son's point of view,
he never said anything to anybody.

460
00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:33,360
It were a total... total shock.

461
00:30:33,400 --> 00:30:35,360
Talking from my own struggles
with mental health

462
00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:36,720
and a failed suicide attempt,

463
00:30:36,760 --> 00:30:39,200
I didn't want to talk to anyone
about what I was going through.

464
00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:42,360
And I genuinely thought
I was the only guy going through it,

465
00:30:42,400 --> 00:30:43,840
and no-one else would understand,

466
00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:45,880
because I was brought up
that big boys don't cry,

467
00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:48,200
you should man up,
you shake it off and bottle it up.

468
00:30:48,240 --> 00:30:52,600
We now have almost 180 groups
across the UK,

469
00:30:52,640 --> 00:30:55,640
nearly 4,500 men a week
walking through the doors,

470
00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:58,600
so if we can get a group within
30 minutes of every man in the UK,

471
00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:00,520
the more chance we've got
at saving lives.

472
00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:03,040
As you say,
if it can stop one person

473
00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:07,040
from doing what my son did,
then that's a positive to us.

474
00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:22,000
Good boy.
DOG BARKS

475
00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:25,560
Why didn't he ask anybody,
or why didn't he talk to anybody,

476
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,640
or why...
why didn't he just ring me up?

477
00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:31,680
There's not gonna be any answers,

478
00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:36,920
and that's just what we've...
we're gonna have to live with.

479
00:31:43,800 --> 00:31:45,480
Done.

480
00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:47,520
When you want...
OK.

481
00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:50,440
..stand up slowly,
and then you can check it out, OK?

482
00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:52,840
Oh, wow.

483
00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:55,720
Wow.

484
00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:01,040
Wow. Amazing.

485
00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:18,600
I'd like the memory of me
To be a happy one

486
00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:21,240
I'd like to leave
An afterglow of smiles

487
00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:22,600
When life is done

488
00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:28,080
I'd like to leave an echo
Whispering softly down the ways

489
00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:30,600
Of happy times and laughing times

490
00:32:30,640 --> 00:32:32,520
And bright and sunny days

491
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:37,960
I'd like tears, of those who grieve
To dry before the sun

492
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:42,120
Of happy memories that I leave
When life is done.

493
00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:56,520
Jake's death is an unnatural death
and will have to go to inquest.

494
00:32:56,560 --> 00:33:01,760
But inquests quite often
have unanswered questions.

495
00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:03,720
So, it will be very hard

496
00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:08,040
to understand what has happened
in his final moments.

497
00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:11,040
That's always
with the deceased person.

498
00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:22,600
Dr Sissons is analysing samples

499
00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:25,160
of Leslie Hodgkinson's
heart and lungs

500
00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:28,280
for evidence of asbestos damage.

501
00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:33,000
Let's see what's going on
in the lungs.

502
00:33:37,960 --> 00:33:39,560
Erm...

503
00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:42,760
Although we know this man
has been exposed to asbestos,

504
00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:47,400
there's no asbestos bodies
that I can see in his lungs.

505
00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:54,600
There's no evidence that he has
asbestos-related lung disease.

506
00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:12,120
NARRATOR: At Blackburn hospital,

507
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:14,640
Dr Sissons is continuing
his analysis

508
00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:18,600
of Leslie Hodgkinson's
heart and lungs.

509
00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:23,320
So, if we have a look
at this bit of lung tissue here...

510
00:34:24,600 --> 00:34:29,560
Compare this bit of lung tissue
with what is going on... there.

511
00:34:32,120 --> 00:34:35,920
There's loss of lung tissue
in those areas.

512
00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:42,840
He's got cigarette damage
to his lungs, and this is emphysema.

513
00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:51,040
OK. This is a very thin section
of heart.

514
00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:58,360
There's a lot of fibres which
are just dead or degenerating there,

515
00:34:58,400 --> 00:35:02,960
so this just indicates
that the blood supply to this heart

516
00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:05,440
has not been good for some time.

517
00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:08,040
Which means there's gonna be
a lack of oxygen

518
00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:09,440
getting to these cells.

519
00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:11,640
And these cells will slowly die,

520
00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:14,320
and when they die, they just
get replaced with scar tissue,

521
00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:19,480
which can't contract or pump or do
the job of the normal heart cells.

522
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:29,480
We've now received
the postmortem report

523
00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:32,360
from the pathologist Dr Sissons,

524
00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:35,840
and there's no evidence to suggest
that that exposure to asbestos

525
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:38,640
has caused or contributed
to his death.

526
00:35:40,920 --> 00:35:44,840
The cause of death
will be acute cardiac failure

527
00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:47,080
and contributing factors

528
00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:50,400
of chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease and pneumonia.

529
00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:11,440
This is bringing back memories.

530
00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:18,360
When you lose a close friend,
it takes some getting used to.

531
00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:20,840
And... I do... I miss him.

532
00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,240
I miss him. I'll never find
another friend like him.

533
00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:27,960
He were an absolute wonderful bloke,
yeah.

534
00:36:29,120 --> 00:36:30,480
Yeah.

535
00:36:37,720 --> 00:36:41,120
And I just... Yeah.
HE CLEARS THROAT

536
00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:52,000
Les was happy outside
with his birds.

537
00:36:54,760 --> 00:36:56,480
If he'd have been here now,

538
00:36:56,520 --> 00:36:59,120
he'd have been straight in that
loft, picking t'best pigeon out.

539
00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:02,320
HE CHUCKLES
God rest his soul, he would.

540
00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:04,880
Mm.

541
00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:22,200
They've got some speed on them!

542
00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:31,000
'Les had a lot of influence on me.'

543
00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:32,720
Go on!

544
00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:35,360
'He rekindled my love
for t'countryside,

545
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:37,120
'so that'll never leave me.

546
00:37:37,160 --> 00:37:38,520
'So he'll always be here.'

547
00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:01,360
It's the day of Jake's inquest.

548
00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:10,240
Good morning.
Can I take your name, please?

549
00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:12,240
Oh, yes. I'll let you in.

550
00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:16,880
I'm a bit nervous,
a bit apprehensive.

551
00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:18,720
Cos you're just walking
into the unexpected,

552
00:38:18,760 --> 00:38:21,160
you don't know
what you're walking into, I suppose.

553
00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:22,400
It's horrible.

554
00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:24,320
Feels a bit like a nightmare,
don't it?

555
00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:25,680
So, once this is over,

556
00:38:25,720 --> 00:38:28,840
hopefully we can start to, like,
rebuild ourselves a bit.

557
00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:36,040
My name's Alice Swarbrick,
I'm the Coroner's Officer Manager

558
00:38:36,080 --> 00:38:38,560
for Lancashire and Blackburn
with Darwen Coroner's Service.

559
00:38:38,600 --> 00:38:41,600
So, the coroner today
is Dr James Adeley.

560
00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:43,640
He's the senior coroner.

561
00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:46,840
Coroner's court is like
a magistrates and a crown court.

562
00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:49,240
The only difference
is we can't prosecute,

563
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:53,400
we don't apportion blame,
we're a fact-finding process.

564
00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:59,240
An inquest asks four questions.

565
00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:02,280
Who has died,
where and when the death occurred,

566
00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:04,680
and usually,
the most difficult question of all,

567
00:39:04,720 --> 00:39:07,360
HOW someone has died.

568
00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:09,600
In this case,
there's the question

569
00:39:09,640 --> 00:39:12,400
of did he intend
to take his own life

570
00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:14,520
and succeed by the means he adopted?

571
00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:17,640
And whether or not drink or drugs

572
00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:20,000
are related to his cause of death.

573
00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:21,600
All rise.

574
00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:35,080
To Jake's family and friends,

575
00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:39,040
I'm very sorry that you're attending
court under these circumstances.

576
00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:42,680
Jake was a very pleasant young man
who loved life

577
00:39:42,720 --> 00:39:44,840
and was the life and soul
of the party.

578
00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:47,720
He was known by his nieces
as "Funcle"

579
00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:50,240
for being the fun uncle that he was.

580
00:39:50,280 --> 00:39:53,760
He was also described
by his partner and his sister

581
00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:55,760
as having a sensitive side,

582
00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:58,040
that he didn't deal with
certain things very well

583
00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:00,440
and could take them
out of proportion.

584
00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:03,040
This was especially the case
if he'd had a drink.

585
00:40:05,240 --> 00:40:09,760
The toxicology found breakdown
products of cocaine and ethanol.

586
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:13,080
And this may cause cognitive
and cardiac impairment.

587
00:40:16,160 --> 00:40:19,040
Now, I understand
that you were the duty inspector.

588
00:40:19,080 --> 00:40:22,600
Could you tell me about
the examination of the scene?

589
00:40:22,640 --> 00:40:25,880
An attempt has been made,
but that hasn't been strong enough,

590
00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:29,480
and Jake has sought out
a second item to re-attempt.

591
00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:36,880
Question here is did he intend
to take his own life?

592
00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:40,560
There are two attempts
at a ligature,

593
00:40:40,600 --> 00:40:44,280
so in my view,
he did intend to take his own life.

594
00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:56,320
This is an extremely tragic outcome.

595
00:40:57,360 --> 00:40:58,680
But it's a recurrent theme

596
00:40:58,720 --> 00:41:02,000
in the way that young men
take their lives.

597
00:41:02,040 --> 00:41:04,560
It tends to be impulsive acts

598
00:41:04,600 --> 00:41:06,560
that if they'd had
more time to consider it,

599
00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:08,600
they would still be with us today.

600
00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:14,960
Suicide is
the leading cause of death

601
00:41:15,000 --> 00:41:18,560
amongst males under 35 years of age
in the UK.

602
00:41:18,600 --> 00:41:20,840
It is something
that needs to be addressed

603
00:41:20,880 --> 00:41:24,760
in order to prevent tragic cases
like Jake's occurring again.

604
00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:35,240
You really have no idea

605
00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:39,040
the depths of what is going on
in somebody's mind.

606
00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:42,800
And I think that is a big problem
with men and mental health.

607
00:41:42,840 --> 00:41:46,120
I had no idea how intense

608
00:41:46,160 --> 00:41:48,680
these feelings and thoughts were,
going on, and...

609
00:41:48,720 --> 00:41:50,560
I didn't... I didn't...
I didn't know.

610
00:41:50,600 --> 00:41:53,200
Nobody knew,
otherwise we would have definitely

611
00:41:53,240 --> 00:41:54,720
driven him to have done more.

612
00:41:58,200 --> 00:42:03,360
The initiatives to try and get men
to open up are so worthwhile.

613
00:42:03,400 --> 00:42:06,400
They stop families like this
having terrible tragedies.

614
00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:10,800
There is always an answer.

615
00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:14,320
I can tell you now that everyone
would have solved every problem

616
00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:17,560
that Jake would have ever had
to just have him here.

617
00:42:20,280 --> 00:42:24,040
If I could turn the clock back,
I'd do so many things differently.

618
00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:27,560
But you just...
I can't change what's happened.

619
00:42:27,600 --> 00:42:30,200
I obviously wish I could,
I'd take everything away.

620
00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:35,080
It's just... my best friend,
I've lost him.

621
00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:50,040
We're going to Jake's flat

622
00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:53,400
because although
what happened in there wasn't nice,

623
00:42:53,440 --> 00:42:55,600
it still holds
a lot of great memories.

624
00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:16,160
I've been here a couple of times
since he's passed away.

625
00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:19,520
I stand here and remember times

626
00:43:19,560 --> 00:43:21,960
when we've taken selfies,
walking down these stairs,

627
00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:26,000
and we've been on our way
to a night out, and...

628
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:31,320
When he used to come home from work,

629
00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:34,240
he always used to look up
at that window.

630
00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:36,600
And when he'd say
"I'll be home at 6:00,"

631
00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:39,000
and it got to ten past,
I'd be waiting at the window.

632
00:43:39,040 --> 00:43:40,440
And when he'd get in, he'd say,

633
00:43:40,480 --> 00:43:42,280
"I knew you'd be looking at me
out the window."

634
00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:44,560
I'd say, "I've been waiting here
for you."

635
00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:47,520
SHE SIGHS

636
00:43:47,560 --> 00:43:49,160
Yeah.

637
00:43:52,280 --> 00:43:56,240
It brings back a lot of memories.
But good ones.

638
00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:20,640
Police have attended,
they've forced entry,

639
00:44:20,680 --> 00:44:23,040
and sadly found
this gentleman deceased.

640
00:44:23,080 --> 00:44:27,320
No sign of any injuries
to his face or head.

641
00:44:27,360 --> 00:44:29,680
So I'm gonna put a bit
of fingerprint powder on now.

642
00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:37,080
We was in a state of shock.

643
00:44:37,120 --> 00:44:40,360
It's gone from "Oh, she's OK,
she'll be home in the morning,

644
00:44:40,400 --> 00:44:44,480
"she's just got dehydration,"
to "She's in organ failure."