After six days missing, someone found Mark Speight on Sunday morning. Unfortunately they did not find him alive.
Mark Speight was found hanging in the joists in Paddington Station, but out of sight of the traveling public. Apparently he had hung himself almost immediately after the last CCTV photos of him were taken.
For a complete wrap up of the entire events, here is the take of the Daily Mail. For videos, photos and an obituary, check out the BBC.
Look. Although Mark is the one who supplied the coke to his girlfriend which ultimately led to her death, no one forced her to take it. In one of the articles I read it questioned why the police who cornered him right before he killed himself did not do more for him considering how bad he looked. They did recognize him and did know what he was going through, yet did nothing. I don't know if they could have actually done something even if they had tried. I can't honestly get a handle on whether he should be blamed for Natasha Collins' death or not. Her mom seemed to not blame him. The problem he is he blamed himself and could no longer live with that guilt.
I don't want to go off on a side note here, but I just have to wonder how a guy in a daze about to kill himself can get in a secure area of the station. What if he were a terrorist planting a bomb? The guy hung up in the rafters for six days.
All those CC cameras and no one saw him get up there - without help? It just sounds weird.
ReplyDeletehella weird mustik. in London you can't go more than a few feet without CCTV catching you on camera. it could be like the fricken Truman Show if they wanted to follow someone daily.
ReplyDeletehow sad, and gruesome.
mistik sorry!
ReplyDeleteGood point about nobody seeing him. That's scarey.
ReplyDeleteLast summer when I had a stop over in Toronto from Montreal there was a weird acting drunk guy at the airport. The plain clothes guys watched him for a good while before they closed in. This guy was drinking beer from a can he had in his bag and the cops pulled a plastic baggie from the guy's pocket and then cuffed him. I was sitting with a pilot going to Hong Kong and the pilot said "How did that guy ever get through security?"
And yet they give me sh*t over the weight of my bags, my hairpray, make-up and shampoo?? Errrr.
God. RIP dude. that's really sad.
ReplyDeletehey we had a poor dude who couldn't speak english wonder through an enclsosed secure area for 8+hours before tasering him to death. how does someone off an international flight wander through a smallish area for 8 hours and no one sees him?
ReplyDeleteeverything about this story is heartbreaking. drugs are bad!
did i get this right? i know is a train station but the smell of a dead body for so long and noone noticed?? poor guy i actually feel bad for him.
ReplyDeleteOh, no. How sad.
ReplyDeleteThe whole thing is so weird, right down to his last known actions before disappearing. Odd that he would withdraw money and make an appointment with his girlfriend's mother right before disappearing, but I guess that just speaks to his frame of mind. Poor guy must have really been struggling. R.I.P.
On another note--I hope the London transit system realizes how bad this is and gets their shit together. I'm sure their laxness hasn't gone unnoticed by potential terrorists. Morons.
Sorry Enty, but a person is "hanged", not "hung".
ReplyDeleteThe situation involving Mark Speight and the girlfriend is very sad all around. It is very creepy that he was able to access that part of the station and stay there unnoticed for several days.
Is that correct, Reese? I've never seen it written that a person hanged himself - it's always said hung. I'm asking because I don't know.
ReplyDeleteI don't quite understand how he could get away with this without being seen. It just doesn't make sense. Those are no low rafters.
it's not exactly where the arrow points..its in an unused office area being renovated from what i read.
ReplyDeleteTwisted: Reese is right. It's hanged. "To be hanged by the neck until death" is what our hanging execution law read.
ReplyDeleteThat's what a lit degree will do to a brain.
Alpine Summer and Reese -
ReplyDeleteEducate me - grammar is not my strong point. When is the use of hung appropriate versus the word hanged? Is it a person versus a thing? I'm trying to understand...not that I'll remember it...lol.
Jax, ohhhh...thanks. I haven't read anything else about this, so that makes sense. What a tragedy, all the way around.
Twisted:
ReplyDeleteA person is hanged, a think is hung. I'm sorry you've been exposed to so much bad writing in your lifetime. Sadly, you are not alone in that misfortune.
I am a writer/editor, and I've had numerous people tell me that they prefer the use of "popular" rather than correct grammar. I try really hard to suppress the urge to hit them in the head with something very hard.
Happy to have been of assistance, Twisted.
Oops, sorry, a "thing", not a "think" is hung. I may have OCD about grammar, words and writing, but I'm a lousy typist.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Reese, now I get it.
ReplyDeletePlease don't supress the urge to smack someone upside the head when they say they prefer popular rather than correct grammar. It drives me nuts! (except when reading Ted Casablanca...lol)
I thought hung was used like... "I'm so hung up on another loser."
ReplyDeleteHow sad that was my first thought when I saw the hung discussion.
Second thought was "hung like a horse."
I feel better now.
Califoblondy - you made me laugh so hard I ended up with tea in my nose!
ReplyDeleteThose who say hanged when referring to a person are correct. Like enty, I am an attorney, but I only do divorce and in a different state.
ReplyDeletethis is a sad lost of a decent man that took pride in his work and was always smiling, he was a pleasure to watch on tv. i'll never forget his warm loving smile and his lovely blonde hair. ( hope its not wrong for me to say that) our thoughts are with his family and friends...
ReplyDeleteR.I.P mark...... you'll be sadly missed xxxxxxxx
This is so sad, just on a human level. I am sure he expected to be found almost immediately, instead it was the smell of decomposing corpse that alerted anyone at the train station.
ReplyDeleteI think the point is well taken that security is pretty damn lax in a train station that has had tightened security since the 70's and IRA bombings. Yikes.
Er, ENT, in your previous posts about this matter you didnt seem to give a rats ass about this guy. In fact, you pretty much implied that Mark could be held responsible for his girlfriends' death because he knew what she was doing and could have done something to stop her. Which is what you are now accusing the police of doing in relation to Mark.
ReplyDeleteIm not suprised he killed himself. Its bad enough to lose the person you love, but to be villified by the media because of it must be hell.
Very sad. Yet compelling.
ReplyDelete"Security" is utter bullshit. I'll try very hard not to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I really think "security" is about lining corporate pockets and not about keeping people safe. Like other posters, I have seen crazy things at airports. I live in NYC and have seen ridiculous lapses in so-called security.
We are all sitting ducks.
missbliss totally agree with you. The guy was villified not only by the media but by the public too, who obviously take their lead from the press. Now people are saying how sad - where was that compassion when he was alive?
ReplyDelete