Blackpool man, 24, jumped from roof of town centre car park after weeks of anxiety and debilitating headaches

A young man told his mum 'I can't live like this' one week before falling to his death from a multi-storey car park in Blackpool town centre.
Elliot TaylorElliot Taylor
Elliot Taylor

Elliot Taylor, 24, jumped from the roof of the Talbot Road multi-storey on September 14 after suffering for eight weeks with anxiety and debilitating headaches.

At his inquest on Tuesday, coroner Alan Wilson heard that Elliot began to suffer from severe headaches affecting the left side of his brain and eye in January last year after taking cocaine. He stopped taking the drugs, but the headaches and anxiety continued.

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He was diagnosed with cluster headaches by his GP at Highfield Surgery, however, Dr Elizabeth Hodgson told the court that the best form of treatment for this was not available in Blackpool.

He was also contacted by the single point of access team on August 10 about his anxiety and given information about how to refer himself to local mental health services, but he felt that he was not listened to and that the telephone meeting was 'a waste of time'.

By September 7, the court heard that there had been 'a severe deterioration of Elliot's wellbeing', that he was 'constantly crying and saying he couldn't live like this'. He attended A&E, but at 1am on September 8, more than five hours after he arrived, he texted his mum to say he still had not been seen by a doctor and discharged himself.

He died one week later. The court heard how told his family he was going to the shops before taking his mother's black Renault car, driving to the roof of the car park and jumping off at around 10.45am. He was taken by ambulance to Blackpool Victoria Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

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A post-mortem revealed the cause of death was multiple injuries. Evidence of cocaine, which he is believed to have taken shortly before he died to steady his nerves, was found in his system.

A doctor also found evidence of 'moderate' narrowing of the arteries in Elliot's brain which may have caused his headaches, though they would not have appeared in any MRI scans. The problem may have been caused by Elliot's past recreational drug use.

Handing down a conclusion of suicide, Mr Wilson said: "It seems to me that this is a young man whose problems have been contributed to by the recreational use of cocaine. We know he had been taking it regularly until a few weeks before his death. What we are dealing with here as an example of how a young life can be destroyed by cocaine use. It's a problem that's all too common."

He added: "Although there has not been any expression of intent by a note or anything or that nature, we know (Elliot) has taken his mother's car, gone to the top of the car park, and sadly jumped from the top of the car park. I suspect he has taken cocaine in the hours before his death knowing what he was about to do.

"He was finding it impossible to live with the issues that he had been dealing with for some weeks. Ultimately I'm going to conclude that this was a death due to suicide."

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