Coroner concludes Ayrshire dad took own life during Blackpool trip with girlfriend

21.07.2022 - 13:33 / dailyrecord.co.uk

An Ayrshire dad took his own life during a weekend away in Blackpool, a coroner has ruled.

Daryl McWilliam had travelled to the English seaside resort with his girlfriend of 12 months, Natalie Jones on Saturday, February 26 this year.

The couple went to a Wetherspoons for something to eat in the Lancashire town before returning to their room at Garvey’s Promenade Hotel.

The 24-year-old and his girlfriend spent some time in their room before the pair went back out and visited three pubs in the town centre.

An inquest at Blackpool Town Hall heard that towards the end of the night Daryl became increasingly drunk and after becoming separated from Natalie he sent her a text and told her: “I don’t want to be with you anymore.” Natalie made several attempts to contact Daryl, who eventually returned to the hotel at around midnight.

The couple had an argument, during which Daryl damaged Natalie’s phone and other belongings in the room, before she started to pack her things into their car, reports Manchester Evening News.

When Natalie went back to the room, Daryl wasn’t there, so she went downstairs to the bar to look for him. A short while later Natalie went back up to the room where she found Daryl unconscious.

Paramedics and police were called but, despite extensive resuscitation efforts, Daryl was pronounced dead at 1.37am on February 27. The cause of death was given as suicide.

An inquest at Blackpool Town Hall yesterday heard that Daryl, a pipe-fitter at Kilmaurs engineering firm A&L Mechanical Installations, had no history of mental health issues. He had visited the GP with his mum in 2020 for help with low mood but he was not known to the community mental health team.

The content of the messages sent by Daryl indicate he was