Accrington Claret left note saying derby defeat not to blame for death (From Blackburn Citizen)

Accrington Claret left note saying derby defeat not to blame for death

3:10pm Saturday 19th December 2009

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A BURNLEY fan found hanged after watching his team lose the East Lancashire derby left a note saying the result was not to blame, an inquest has heard.

Adam Michael Donnelly, 23, was found by parents Michael and Sheila Donnelly in the yard of the family home in Haywood Road, Accrington, at around 7am, on Monday, October 19.

Giving evidence at the inquest, Mr Donnelly said Adam, a keen Clarets supporter, had been to watch the game at Ewood Park on Sunday, October 18.

He then went drinking with friends in Accrington before arriving home around 10.30pm.

Mr Donnelly said Adam seemed different when he got home adding: “He wouldn’t talk to us.”

Adam went to bed, but when his mum went to wake him the following morning, she looked out of his bedroom window and saw him in the yard.

His father attempted the ‘kiss of life’, but when paramedics arrived they confirmed Adam dead at the scene.

Mr Donnelly said there was nothing to suggest his son, a quality controller, was troubled, but a note had been left on the dining room table.

Recording a suicide verdict, coroner Michael Singleton said: “The note says specifically what he has done has nothing to do with the match result.

“He said he would never be able to find anybody to love him in the way it really mattered.”

Mr Donnelly said his son had spoken about not having a girlfriend, but the inquest was told Adam’s friends were ‘totally shocked’ about his death.

Mr Singleton gave the family his sincere condolences and said: “The mind is very complex and capable of going to some very dark places; places we don’t understand.”

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