Jul 23 2009 by Francesca Elliott, Flintshire Chronicle
A SELF-employed Bangor on Dee tree surgeon hanged himself after becoming depressed, a Wrexham inquest heard.
Matthew Fitton, 27, of Friars Court, committed suicide on September 8 last year after complaining to doctors of feeling depressed after splitting from his girlfriend and financial pressures.
The inquest heard that on the day of his death, Mr Fitton had been feeling low, and according to his father, Geoffrey Fitton, "didn’t seem right".
“I was concerned about him,” said his mother Pauline Fitton. “For months he was so low, he wouldn’t speak to friends or answer his phone, he wasn’t going to work much, where as he used to work very long hours.”
Matthew worked alongside his parents at the Woodstock Nursery on Long Lane in Whitchurch.
On Monday, September 8, Mr Fitton told his parents he would prefer to rest in the car between jobs while they went for a coffee.
On their return they found him hanging from a nearby tree, 40ft from the ground.
“As a tree surgeon he was very good at climbing trees,” said Geoffrey Fitton. “He wouldn’t have needed any equipment to get up there.”
Coroner for North East Wales, John Gittins, said: “There can be no conclusion other than he took his own life. “I offer my sincere condolences to his family, it is always hard to deal with the death of a young person.”
Verdict: Suicide.