Businessman killed himself after work prevented him from seeing his family

A successful businessman killed himself after a bout of increasingly hectic work schedules kept him away from his wife and children, an inquest heard.

Graham Wild, 55 ran an IT consultancy firm from his home in Cheshire and was also director of another technology firm – but changes at work meant he had to visit London a lot more for business meetings.

The company boss, whose clients included the civil service, became worried about spending time away from his family and began to bottle up feelings of low moods and anxiety.

After agreeing to speak to his wife Suzanne about his mental state on July 5 this year, Mr Wild suddenly failed to answer his phone.

Later in the same day he was found by his wife in the garage of their £600,000 home in Poynton, Cheshire.

After completing his degree in computer science, Mr Wild had gone into the IT industry, working as a computer programmer at Hewlett-Packard for 25 years, before setting up his consultancy business Premitech Consulting.

He ran the business with his wife for the last 10 years.

Mrs Wild, 54 told the Macclesfield hearing: ‘He was successful and doing well but lately he had shown low mood and worried more.

‘The family went on holiday to Canada and all had a good time but still noticed he was a bit reserved and anxious.

‘This anxiety was in relation to his hectic work routine and it kept him away from his family and he would go to London quite often.’

Mrs Wild said that after failing to see Graham on the morning of July 5, she assumed he had left the house.

However, after he failed to answer her calls, she decided to track the location of Graham’s phone.

She said: ‘I could see it was nearby and I went outside and walked and I could see Graham’s car.

‘I noticed it was locked and a rucksack was inside and he wasn’t in it. I assumed the phone was in the rucksack, but I was becoming concerned as to where was he.’

She then decided to look at an email she received earlier which said: ‘When you get home can you check if I have left my reading glasses in the garage.’

After going to the garage, she found Graham, with a written letter next to him explaining his intentions to take his own life.

Recording a conclusion of suicide, coroner Jean Harkin, said: ‘It is clear that Graham was anxious about some work matters but not to the extent where he was registered at the GP surgery for being sad and receiving treatment.

‘Whatever he was anxious about, he was keeping to himself.’