GARY Speed’s death could have been an accident.
His wife Louise Speed and parents Carol and Roger have been told there is not enough evidence to confirm the 42-year-old took his own life.
The Wales manager, whose family hails from Flintshire, was found dead at his home in Huntington, Chester, on November 27.
In returning a narrative verdict at a packed inquest yesterday Cheshire coroner Nicholas Rheinberg gave the cause of death as hanging.
He said: “He died as a result of self-suspension but the evidence does not sufficiently determine whether this was intentional or accidental.”
The Warrington inquest heard Speed and his wife had a number of “ups and downs” in their marriage. Mrs Speed said she had known her husband all her life and the couple were married in Hawarden in 1996.
She said: “He was very much a family man. He did not like the forced separation. It was more difficult to spend time at home.”
Asked if the Wales job was forcing him to spend more time away from his family, Mrs Speed said: “I think he was spending more hours there than he thought he would do initially.”
Mr Rheinberg asked if this had “put some degree of stress” on their relationship.
Mrs Speed responded: “I would say so, yes.”
Four days before his death Speed had texted his wife and “talked in terms of taking his life”.
He quickly dismissed the idea saying he was “excited” about the future with his wife and two sons.
On the Friday before his death Speed had played golf with friend John Ratcliffe, of Hawarden, who said he “seemed like normal Gary”.
The next day Speed, who had played for Sheffield United, Everton, Newcastle, Leeds and Bolton, had appeared on the BBC’s Football Focus.
He met his friend and former Newcastle United team-mate Alan Shearer. In a statement Shearer said he had discussed the couple’s problems while on holiday last year. Talking about the holiday he said: “I found Gary more relaxed than I have ever before.”
Shearer said during the holiday Speed said there were a “couple of issues” in his marriage but said he would “give it a go and stick in there”.
Talking about Speed’s death he said: “It just didn’t and still does not make sense to me.”
After returning home on November 26 Speed went to a dinner party with his wife and other friends at Pinfold Farm, Shocklach, Malpas.
During the party he acted normally and had joined in with other guests with “gusto” and had been pushed into a swimming pool fully clothed.
The couple returned home at about 1am.
Mrs Speed said: "We walked in the house and we had an exchange of words about something and nothing.”
She said she suggested she go for drive but her husband blocked the door and told her that she “wasn't going anywhere”.
“I went upstairs and lay on the bed for about five or 10 minutes," she said. “Then I decided to go for a drive, to clear my mind and for space to think.”
She said she only drove to the top of the road before she stopped to ring her husband's mobile phone.
After getting no reply she returned to the house and tried, unsuccessfully, to ring him again.
“I decided to keep the car running and stay there until I could get into the house,” she said.
After getting some sleep in the vehicle she told the hearing she woke up at about 6am and went to the outside bathroom.
She said she noticed some shed keys missing which were usually stored there and went to the shed to see if her husband was there before moving to the garage.
Becoming visibly upset she said: “I went to the window and there I saw him.”
Mr Rheinberg asked: “Was it apparent that Gary was hanging?”
“Yes,” she replied. The hearing was told he was hanging from a banister.
She said she woke the children to open up the door and called the emergency services.
On their advice she cut her husband to the ground as paramedics were sent to the scene.
Mrs Speed said there was no note or message left by her husband and nothing was found on any computer devices in the home by police officers.
During the inquest Speed’s mother Carol, of Aston, Deeside, said that her son was passionate about football and had kicked a football before he started primary school. “He enjoyed life as a professional footballer.”
In a statement Speed’s mother said her son had said there was “no greater honour than to manage his country in the game he loved”.
She said the phone call from her daughter-in-law informing her of her son's death was the “worst moment of my life”.
She said: “He was a private and deep man. He loved the boys completely. I can’t see any reason for his death.”
A toxicology report found there was a “moderate” amount of alcohol in his system, equal to just over the legal driving limit and no traces of any other substances.
The inquest heard investigators believed Speed had been sitting on the stairs in his garage with the ligature around his neck.
Mr Rheinberg described Speed as an accomplished and well-respected sportsman with a distinguished career.
He said: “It may have been this was some sort of dramatic gesture, not normally in Mr Speed's character, but nonetheless a possibility."
Mr Rheinberg said it was a possibility Speed was sat there for some time and that he "nodded off to sleep"" with the cable around his neck.