A retired painter and decorator who took his own life after jumping from a flyover at one of Norfolk's busiest junctions believed he had a life-threating cancer.
Michael Gardiner died in November 2023 underneath a flyover near the A47 Hardwick roundabout in King's Lynn.
An inquest into his death heard how the 77-year-old, of Kensington Road, Downham Market, had been worrying about his health following a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test.
Evidence revealed that while he had raised PSA levels and an enlarged prostate, he did not have prostate cancer.
He was, however, being treated for a “treatable and non-threatening” low-grade skin cancer on his nose.
In a statement to Norfolk Coroner’s Court read out on April 3, his wife Elizabeth Gardiner said he had been struggling with his mental health in the weeks before he died.
She added that he “felt ashamed” as he had never suffered previously, and worried he would “be put into a mental hospital” if anyone found out.
On November 24, Mrs Gardiner described how he had woken as normal and decided to go out for a motorbike ride after eating breakfast.
She said: “That morning he seemed fine.
“He said ‘see you later’ and I replied with ‘mind how you go’.
“I think he had been planning it for some time.”
Motorist Ian Harrison witnessed the incident while driving along the A47 at around 9.45am and said he saw the rider take off his helmet and drop it on the floor moments before.
Mr Harrison called the emergency services, who arrived almost immediately. The incident saw the A47 closed to traffic for more than three hours.
Despite efforts to save him, Mr Gardiner died at the scene.
A postmortem confirmed the medical cause of death as “multiple traumatic injuries as a result of a fall from height”.
Area coroner Yvonne Blake concluded he died by “suicide”.
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- To read all obituaries and tributes join the Facebook group Norfolk's Loved & Lost.
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