Not At All Suspicious
From the BBC:
"David Phyall, 50, was the last tenant at the Atlantic Housing Ltd housing association flats in Eastleigh.The last opponent to a development project found with his head cut off by a chainsaw is absolutely not suspicious, in case you were wondering.His body was found by police on 5 July, who said his death was not suspicious. Post-mortem tests showed he died of a "complete transection of the neck". A spokesman for the coroner said: "As far as we know nobody else was involved.
"There's nothing suspicious about the death. It was in his flat on Bodmin Road.
"The place is all due to be redeveloped. He was the last resident left there. He lived there alone."
A Hampshire Constabulary spokeswoman confirmed his death was not suspicious.
"We were called to the address on Bodmin Road on 5 July at approximately 4.20pm to a non-suspicious death," she said.
Comments
Clearly, the worse case of "non-suspicious death" they have had all year. I wonder if they may rule it as a suicide and if they are holding the chainsaw as a material witness.
Posted by: Ron Hager | July 15, 2008 08:28 PM
From The Mirror, an English tabloid newspaper;
Chainsaw suicide of man told to move
By Richard Smith 15/07/2008
Tragedy over doomed home
A disturbed resident facing eviction from a doomed block of flats severed his head with a chainsaw.
David Phyall, 58 - the last person living in an area marked for demolition and redevelopment - had been fighting to stay in his home. It is believed he plugged the electric saw into the mains and attached a timer to the socket.
He then taped the saw trigger in the 'on' position, lay down with his neck on the blade and waited for the timer to kick in. An adjourned inquest said possible cause of death was "complete trans-section" of the neck.
Mr Phyall, described as "vulnerable" and disabled, had been unhappy since plans to level his flat block in Bishopstoke, Hants, were passed in 2006. He lived alone in a ground-floor apartment he had been renting from Atlantic Housing Association for 10 years.
Residents' association chairman Ron Turtle said: "He was offered several similar places, but didn't want to move. In the end, they had to go to court."
Parish council chairman Anne Winstanley added: "They were still negotiating with him to try to provide him with what he needed as an alternative."
Mr Phyall's body was found after paramedics called at his home following concerns about his welfare.
His death is not being treated as suspicious.
First Wessex, owners of Atlantic Housing, said: "We made great efforts to rehouse Mr Phyall but had difficulty in achieving his wishes." Eleven offers were rejected. The firm had not taken steps to put a possession order into action.
So it seems it was just an unfortunately worded article by the BBC, not enough info. I don't want you Americans thinking we go around chopping each others heads off when diplomacy fails, those days are over.
What an ingenious way to kill yourself, if only he had applied that level of reasoning to his everyday life, might have afforded one of the shiny, new apartments that are to replace his post-war shack.
Posted by: Steve Gunnis | August 7, 2008 07:11 AM