A 23-YEAR-OLD man hanged himself after running up thousands of pounds of gambling debts, an inquest heard.
Shop worker Martin Perry started gambling when he was around 18-years-old by playing fruit machines in pubs. But his addiction soon escalated and he started visiting casinos to play roulette.
Mr Perry hanged himself with an iron cord from a tree in wooded area off Petersfield Road, Chell, minutes away from his parents' home in Biddulph Road, where he lived.
At the time of his death on Thursday, September 16 last year, it is believed he had debts of between �5,000 and �10,000, North Staffordshire Coroner's Court heard yesterday.
Coroner Ian Smith said: "He was a young man who had got himself in debt and like all gamblers, he was hoping the next bet would be the big win which would clear his debts.
"We all know it doesn't work that way and the only people who make money out of gambling are the bookies and casinos, otherwise they wouldn't be there in the first place."
Mr Smith urged people with gambling addiction problems to seek professional help.
He added: "There are professional people out there who can help people in Martin's situation.
"We don't know if that would have cured him because once gambling takes hold of someone, it is very difficult to cure."
The inquest heard Mr Perry, who worked at frozen food specialist Cooltrader in Tunstall, had left a suicide note on a living room table on the morning of his death.
The note said his gambling had got out of control and that he needed help but was too afraid to ask for it, so he was ending it all.
His dad, Kevin Perry, told the inquest said: "I first saw him gambling when I went to pick him up from a pub where he was working when he was about 18 and I could see him on the fruit machine through the window.
"In the last 12 months his gambling got worse and we were funding him a lot of money, but we didn't know where it was going.
"He would ask us if he could borrow �300 or �500 for whatever reason, and now we know that he was gambling it all away."
It is believed Martin Perry had visited a casino in Hanley on two consecutive nights prior to his death, and had taken between �300 to �700 from the safe at work.
His dad said: "I picked him up from Hanley on both nights and he just seemed out of it, but not in a drunk way. I asked him if he was okay and he said he was.
"All he had to say was that he was in trouble and we would have done whatever we could to sort him out."
Martin Perry left the house at 6.30am the following morning and told his dad he was going to work, even though it was his day off.
Mr Perry added: "He came in my room and asked me for some money for the bus but when I looked out of the window, I saw him walking in the opposite direction.
"I thought it was strange but I just assumed he had got a lift and went back to sleep.
"When I woke up I went downstairs at about 7.50am and that's when I saw the note, so I went to look for him.
"I couldn't find him so I went to Burslem police station and showed them the note. The police came round later in the afternoon and said they had found his body."
Mr Smith recorded a verdict that Mr Perry killed himself.
 |  |
No comments:
Post a Comment