AN INTERNATIONAL investigation has been launched into a Canadian business after allegedly supplying chemicals to several people who would later die, including a young Wiltshire landscaper.
Adam Paul Watson, 26, from Semington, was found dead in the corner of a field at the back of his home on October 25, 2022.
The inquest in Salisbury heard on Thursday (February 1) that Mr Watson was suffering from acute anxiety and depression. In 2019, he had attempted to take his own life.
His father went into his son’s bedroom on the morning of October 25 to wake him and found him gone. He had last been seen at 11pm the night before.
Concerned about his son’s welfare, he reported Adam as missing to the police.
After a brief search, Adam’s body was found by Wiltshire Police dog handler PC Steve Duffy. By his side, was a head torch, a green jacket and a metal flask with two glasses.
Wiltshire & Swindon senior coroner David Ridley said Adam had mixed a concentrated solution and had then ingested it.
He added: “It is quite clear from the evidence that Adam was not in a good place and had battled with acute anxiety and depression for a number of years.”
A post mortem failed to discover the cause of Adam’s death, so the coroner ordered further toxicology tests from a laboratory in Texas, USA.
Adam’s father had mentioned in a statement that an empty 50g package of a certain chemical, which we are not naming, had been found in his son’s bedroom.
The highly toxic chemical had been sent to Adam on October 11 and, after week’s delay at customs, was finally delivered to him on October 18.
The supplier in Canada is now the subject of an international criminal investigation involving scores of other victims.
At the time of his death, Adam was waiting to be assessed by the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust team.
The computer games enthusiast had lost four stone in weight and sometimes stayed in bed for up to 23 hours a day.
Adam was also affected by the end of his relationship with his girlfriend.
Mr Ridley returned a verdict of suicide, saying that on the balance of probabilities, Adam had deliberately taken his own life.
He said Adam’s acute anxiety and depression was a contributory factor.
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