Rick Stein restaurant worker commits suicide by slashing throat after mind 'warped' by cannabis

Darren Raymond Billing, 22, from Padstow in Cornwall, was found at a beauty spot by his father on May 3, last year.

The former kitchen porter at Rick Stein's seafood restaurant in Padstow had stab and knife wounds to his abdomen, throat and wrists.

In statements read out at the Inquest at Truro Coroners Court, Mr Billing's parents Gill and Nicholas Billling, said that their son had been treated for bouts of depression since he began smoking cannabis, taking acid and drinking heavily at the age of 17.

Truro Coroner Dr Elizabeth Carlyon accepted the pathologist report, which stated that Mr Billing died from bleeding, as a result of his injuries.

At the time of his death he was waiting for an emergency appointment to see a community psychiatric nurse, as his GP suspected that he may have been suffering from schizophrenia rather than the depression he was being treated for.

Mr Billing went missing from the family home on the afternoon of May 2 last year.

After a frantic search by his family he was found the next morning, lying on the gravel beach at Sunny Corner, near Padstow. Earlier that day he had seen his GP and had been given a new course of treatment.

Despite desperate attempts by his father and ambulance crews to revive Mr Billing he was recognised as dead just before 6.30am.

Police found a knife with a four-to-inch blade in the vicinity of the scene.

In a written statement Mrs Billing said that her son, a keen surfer, fisherman and guitar player, had been a happy child, who left school to work as a fisherman.

It was then that he started drinking heavily and experimenting with drugs. "It was my belief that the combination of drinking and drugs did something in him," her statement read.

After backpacking in Costa Rica with friends Mrs Billing said Daz, as he was known to them, became self-conscious and had changed. She was told that he had smoked cannabis while on the trip.

His father, deputy harbourmaster at Padstow, said that he believed that his son had also taken acid on a trip to London with friends. When he returned he was seen by a doctor.

Over the next few years Mr Billing was treated for bouts of depression.

A few weeks prior to his death Mr Billing had walked out of his job as kitchen porter at celebrity chef Rick Stein's seafood restaurant.

His family GP Dr O'Shea had seen Mr Billing just eight days previously and had made an urgent referral for the him to see a Community Pscychiatric nurse.

On the day he went missing Dr O'Shea had contacted the nurse but an appointment by phone was the only option available at the time.

Dr O'Shea said that he was concerned at what he referred to as continuity issues in the mental healthcare system, which meant that Mr Billing may not have been seen in the fastest possible time.

However, Mr Billing had left the family home and his parents realised that he had taken a knife with him. In 2004, he had harmed himself by cutting his wrists.

His mother said that her son had always maintained that he would not take his own life when he had been asked.

When giving the verdict Dr Carlyon said that she would be writing, highlighting her concerns about the continuity of care in the mental healthcare service.

Summing up Dr Carlyon said that she was satisfied Mr Billing may have been suffering from psychotic idealisations before his death, and delivered an open verdict.