Gary Speed May Have Accidentally Killed Himself, Inquest Hears

A coroner’s inquest into the death of Gary Speed has ruled that the Welsh manager may have killed himself accidentally.

The cause of death was ruled a hanging, but the coroner said that “the evidence does not sufficiently determine whether this was intentional or accidental.” In the coroner’s verdict, he stated that Speed may have fallen asleep while sitting with a cable around his neck on the stairs in his garage.

Gary Speed’s wife explained how the couple had been involved in an argument. “We walked in the house and we had an exchange of words about something and nothing,” she said. “I went upstairs and lay on the bed for probably about five or ten minutes. Then I decided to go for a drive, to clear my mind (and for) space to think.”

She added that she drove to the “top of the road” before she stopped to phone her husband’s mobile phone. After getting no reply, she returned to the house and tried, unsuccessfully, to ring him again.

“I decided to keep the car running and stay there until I could get into the house,” she said. But after getting some sleep in the vehicle she told the hearing she woke up at about 6am and went to the outside bathroom.

When she approached the garage, she said ““I went to the window and there I saw him” — where it was apparent that Speed had hanged himself.

Mrs. Speed also revealed that Gary Speed had been talking about taking his own life days before he died, in a text message to her. But that he quickly dismissed it, saying he was excited about the future with his wife and two sons.