Inquest jury retrace final hours of hanged man's life

The jury examining the death of Jason McGowan, the second black man from the same family to be found hanged in Telford, examined the spot yesterday where his body was discovered.

Mr McGowan, 20, was found suspended by his belt from the railings only a few minutes' walk from the pub where he had been celebrating Millennium Eve with new his wife. Six months earlier, his uncle, Errol McGowan, 34, was found hanging from a door handle in a house he was looking after.

The jury of seven men and four women retraced his final steps accompanied by the Telford and Wrekin Coroner Michael Gwynne, legal representatives, family and police officers. From the Elephant & Castle pub they took short walk across the adjoining recreation ground to where Mr McGowan was found hanging. As his widow, Sinead, 25, and mother, Doreen, stood quietly to one side, they examined the spot marked by a plaque and a small bunch of flowers.

They then listened to a transcript of the panicked phone call made by Eddy Mansel to the ambulance services after he found his friend.

Later Sergeant Sukhbinder Singh, the first police officer at the scene, admitted that the initial call he received had jumped to the conclusion that they were dealing with an "attempted suicide''.

But, the officer insisted, this did not influence his actions and he tried to avoid any forensic contamination of the scene, as would be required in the case of any suspicious death.

Three ambulance staff and the police surgeon, however, had already walked around the area before it was cordoned off.

The inquest, which is expected to last five weeks and hear 87 witnesses, continues.