A keen sportsman made contact with Swiss assisted suicide clinic Dignitas before he was found dead outside his Stokenchurch home, an inquest heard today.

Thomas Hollis – known as Tom – was found hanged in a communal area of the block of flats he lived in in Barkus Way on November 30.

An inquest into the 30-year-old’s death at Buckinghamshire Coroner’s Court on Wednesday morning heard that Tom had been concerned about his health following a diagnosis of rhabdomyolysis, a serious condition in which damaged muscle breaks down rapidly.

The warehouse operative had suffered with mental health issues including Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and anxiety since a young age and had also told his sister he had an eating disorder and anxiety, although these appeared to be self-diagnosed.

Lisa Shurer, from the Chiltern Adult Mental Health team at Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, which had engaged with Tom on a number of occasions in the month before his death, said he also had a history of “excessive exercising”.

On October 6, Tom visited Stoke Mandeville A&E department with his parents while “feeling suicidal” and during an hour-long assessment with the PIRLS (Psychiatric In Reach Liaison Service) team, he told how he had contacted Dignitas but received an email saying he did not meet their criteria.

He also told how he was “struggling to come to terms with” his muscle disorder but felt if his physical health improved, his mental health would too.

DC Alex Trevivian from Thames Valley Police also told the inquest how Tom had been “trying to make payments to Dignitas in the months leading up to his death”.

He told senior coroner Crispin Butler that when Tom was found hanged outside his front door, there was a note in his pocket with a list of symptoms he was suffering from.

Attempts at CPR by the police officers who were first on the scene to try and save Tom were sadly not successful.

A post-mortem found that the cause of death was hanging.

Ruling that Tom’s death was suicide, Mr Butler said: “Tom was found sadly deceased, suspended from rope outside his home address. He died as a result of hanging.

“His death came against a background of physical and mental health issues. The evidence is very clear – no one else was involved in his death.”

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