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Wisbech headteacher took his own life in boiler room
AN inquest into the death of dedicated Wisbech headteacher Neil Sears heard there were "worrying signs" before he took his own life.
AN inquest into the death of dedicated Wisbech headteacher Neil Sears heard there were "worrying signs" before he took his own life.The hearing heard Mr Sears (52), who was head of the Meadowgate Special School, was thinking of taking early retirement this summer.
Coroner William Morris said it was the "saddest case' he had dealt with and described Mr Sears as an "excellent headmaster".
Mr Sears left no note, but he had written: "I just give up – sorry" at the bottom of a fax received on the day he died.
The fax was about an educational tribunal involving a pupil whose parents wanted to move him to another school, claiming Meadowgate was not meeting their son's needs – something Mr Sears strongly denied.
Mr Sears was found hanging in the school's boiler house on January 20 this year after his worried wife Karen raised the alarm with deputy headteacher Carolyn Dobson when he didn't arrive home.
Both women went to the school and searched for Mr Sears with caretaker Stephen Hind, who spotted a light in the boiler house, but could not unlock the door.
Looking through the window he saw a set of keys on a chair and, fearing Mr Sears had suffered some sort of accident, he went to call the emergency services.
Moments later, Mrs Dobson came screaming asking for something with which to cut Mr Sears down as he was hanging in the boiler house.
Paramedics tried to revive Mr Sears, but he was pronounced dead.
Mrs Dobson told the hearing, at Wisbech, Mr Sears seemed perfectly normal earlier in the afternoon when they discussed the educational tribunal.
She said: "We agreed to meet the following day to formulate the school's response.
"I had no further concerns and Neil was his normal self."
Mrs Sears said she was aware of the case as her husband had referred to it previously when he'd told her the parents wanted him to say the school was not meeting the child's needs.
"But he said he could not lie and say his staff were not meeting this child's needs. He was convinced what should be done was being done. But he didn't seem depressed or upset," said Mrs Sears.
She described her husband as a very dedicated headteacher, who worked between 60 and 70 hours a week and only took about seven weeks of his annual 12 holiday allowance.
She said there was a lot of pressures with the job. He had spoken to colleagues about his pension and realised he was going to get more than he thought, which meant he could partially retire this year, rather than wait until he was 55.
Mrs Sears said on the day he died, her husband had been on the Internet looking at places to visit during their planned Easter holiday and was looking forward to watching the inauguration of Barack Obama that evening.
However, in a statement read out, Mr Hind said on one occasion Mr Sears turned up for school at his usual time but then disappeared – only to turn up some hours later having walked to Guyhirn.
Mr Hind said only a handful of people knew about this and it was written off as Mr Sears needing "fresh air and to get away".
Recording that Mr Sears had taken his own life, Mr Morris said: “I have absolutely no doubt Mr Sears was an excellent headmaster.
“This is a case where the deceased has not left a note indicating he would be taking his life, although the evidence before me does show certain worrying signs.
“I have no doubt the pressures faced in this very worthwhile job he did were very, very great and Mrs Sears has told me something about them.”
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