Oliver Moorhouse inquest: Hero who died on rail line was anxious over drug debt

A Blackpool man hailed a hero after a dramatic sea rescue killed himself less than three years later after stepping in front of a train on the day he feared a drugs debt was to be called in.
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Oliver Moorhouse, 29, died at the scene after the collision involving a train going at 60mph through Layton station on May 24.

Eight days earlier, he had had to be talked down from a motorway bridge by police after threatening to jump. At the time, he was also found to have self-harmed, cutting himself with a glass bottle.

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Oliver’s mother, Liane, with whom he lived, said she had noticed changes in his behaviour in the weeks immediately before the bridge incident, as he became more “obsessive”, following her around the around the house, looking repeatedly out of the window and had also asked if she would lend him money.

Oliver MoorhouseOliver Moorhouse
Oliver Moorhouse

"I found that he had been taking cocaine for around four or five months and had built up a debt to dealers,” Mrs Moorhouse said in evidence to the inquest at Blackpool Town Hall.”

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“He said the people he owed were due to call round to the house on May 24 and I told him to pack a bag and go and stay with friends for a few days.”

But the next she knew, Oliver had been found on the rail line at Layton. He died of multiple injuries and a post-mortem toxicology test found evidence of cocaine and diazepam in his blood.

Layton stationLayton station
Layton station
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Train driver Gareth Penny said the train was not due to stop at the station so was going at 60mph when he noticed a figure step off the platform and onto the track.

Oliver, who in 2019 heroically rescued two young boys from the sea in an incident next South Pier, where he worked on security, spent time in hospital in 2020, diagnosed with stress-related psychosis.

But he was discharged to the home care team and his mother said there had been no apparent problems since, although she pointed out he had always been "quite an anxious person”.

Around April this year, however, she noticed the changes in his behaviour culminating in the bridge incident and self-harm.

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After being talked down from the bridge, Oliver was assessed by mental health professionals but they found there was no evidence of a mental health condition and it was decided to discharge him with a referral to the home treatment team for initially daily assessments.

Mental health practitioner Marius Rademan said the bridge incident had been judged to be an impulsive act rather than a pre-medicated attempt to jump and that the daily visits were to “watch his mood and to stop him acting impulsively”.

The first went well but after some slightly more concerning behaviour at the second, Oliver was referred to a psychiatrist for assessment and prescribed diazepam.

The psychiatrist diagnosed disorder adjustment, a form of anxiety, but felt there was no immediate risk.

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Mrs Moorhouse said she had pointed out after the bridge incident that Oliver had never self-harmed before and wondered if that should have caused him to be detained at the time rather than allowed home.

But Dr Anna Clancy, a principal clinical psychologist, said Oliver “had not met the criteria to be sectioned” and reiterated that the incident had been “impulsive rather than pre-meditated”.

Mrs Moorhouse made a point at the inquest of thanking the mental health professionals involved for their care of Oliver.

Coroner Alan Wilson recorded a verdict of suicide and said it was a particularly sad case.

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"Two important factors are drugs and debts,” he said. “Those must have been having an impact on him. They would have had an impact on anyone, with or without a mental health condition.

"He had used cocaine prior to his death and he was significantly affected by anxiety brought about by drug use.”

But Mr Wilson added that he didn’t feel there had been an error by mental health professionals in not detaining Oliver after the motorway bridge incident. “There was no question of mental illness,” said the coroner.

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