A BUSINESSMAN took an overdose of pain killers before the 4x4 he was driving along the A614 crashed head on into an articulated lorry, an inquest has heard.
Paul Alan James Topham, 44, of Main Street, Haisthorpe, had 60 times the normal dose of codeine in his blood stream, when he was involved in a collision with a 44 tonne HGV near Middleton-on-the-Wolds on October 3 last year.
Toxicology tests also showed that Mr Topham, who had been suffering from depression, also had a potentially fatal amount of paracetamol in his body, taken around two hours prior to the crash.
But the inquest, held at Hull Coroners Court yesterday, February 29, was told that Mr Topham, a father of two, died as a direct result of multiple head and body injuries sustained in the collision.
The court heard that Mr Topham, who was originally from Bridlington, had suffered health problems after having a gastric band fitted to tackle his weight.
In September 2009 he went back into hospital to have the band removed.
But further complications led to him being admitted to intensive care at Castle Hill Hospital and a prolongued hospital stay.
It was 10 months before Mr Topham returned home, by which time he was suffering from depression and had been left with an open stomach wound which needed daily care.
Mr Topham’s wife, Jacqueline Dawn Topham, described him as a good husband and a good father who worked hard to provide for the family.
Mrs Topham said her husband had been a skilled buyer in the family business but his health problems meant he was having to take more and more time off work.
She said he was left feeling “very upset” after the decision was taken to remove him as one of the directors of the family business which he had run with his brothers.
Matters were made worse when Mr Topham returned to work last March only to be sent home following an incident involving an employee, and days later police were called after he went missing.
Police later found him sitting on a bench near a cliff top, crying.
The court heard that last July Mr Topham was arrested for various offences and bailed, appearing in court on September 28.
Mrs Topham told the court that the day after her husband’s court appearance he had asked her to help him end his life, which she refused and instead called the doctor.
Mr Topham’s GP referred him to the mental health service.
But on the morning of Monday October 3, the day that a mental health nurse tried telephoning Mr Topham to arrange an appointment, Mrs Topham returned home after the school run to find a note saying “sorry mum” and their blue Isuzu 4x4 missing.
At around 8.30am truck driver Ian David Underhill, of Staffordshire based hauliers Browns, was driving his HGV along the east bound carriageway of the A614.
Mr Underhill said he glanced at his speedometer and when he looked up he saw the 4x4 driving straight towards him.
“It must have been 20 to 30 yards away from me, I didn’t have much time to change my direction at all. I slammed the brakes on and tried to move to the left,” Mr Underhill said.
But just seconds later the vehicles collided creating what one witness, Linda Bouncer, described as “an enormous noise like an explosion.”
Registered nurse Nicola Alison Penn-Allison, who had been driving in a blue volvo behind the 4x4, tried to administer first aid to Mr Topham but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
“I saw the 4x4 pull out into the other carriageway towards traffic coming from the opposite direction. I observed it continue to drive in a straight line. I started to slow down because I was getting a bit concerned.
“ I kept thinking he will pull back in two or three times but I realised perhaps he wasn’t going to,” Ms Penn-Allison said.
Toxicologist Steven Morley told the court that the potentially fatal levels of codeine and paracetamol, combined with an anti-depressant, could have affected Mr Tophams cognitive behaviour, causing him to fall asleep or lose consciousness and subsequently control of the vehicle.
HM Coroner for the East Riding of Yorkshire and Hull, said that while there may have been a motive for Mr Topham to want to take his own life he had to record an open verdict as it could not be said for sure if he had deliberately intended to move into the path of the oncoming vehicle.