Brit presenter found dead

British television presenter Mark Speight has been found hanged in London, three months after the cocaine-related death of his children’s television actress fiancee.

The grieving BBC host’s body was found at a remote area of Paddington station in West London about 10am yesterday.

Authorities said they believed the body could have been there for a few days before being found by rail workers.

Speight disappeared last Monday, just days after appearing at the inquest into the death of Natasha Collins, who he discovered dead in the bath at their home in January.

The 31-year-old actress died from the effects of consuming cocaine and being immersed in hot water at the same time.

Speight, 42, was last seen at Queen’s Park tube station in North-West London after telling his fiancee’s mother that he cried himself to sleep over Natasha’s death, according to The Daily Mail.

Speight had also reportedly told journalists that “nothing matters anymore”.

The presenter’s divorced parents Jacqueline and Oliver were quoted as saying they were “absolutely devastated” by his death.

Mrs Speight reportedly said from the family home, “We are all extremely upset by this news and need time to grieve.

“It has come as a huge shock and we are trying to take it all in as a family.”

Speight resigned as presenter on the BBC children’s show SMart in February and was last seen on CCTV boarding a southbound Bakerloo line-Tube train at Queen’s Park on April 7.

He had been due to meet his fiancee’s mother, Carmen Collins, in Covent Garden later that day but never arrived and his mobile phone remained turned off.

It was unclear whether a suicide note was found with the body.

Nabeel Sheikh, a solicitor who represented Speight since Miss Collins’s death, reportedly said he believed the trauma had driven Speight to take his own life.

Speight woke to find Miss Collins dead in the bath with the hot water still running at their £500,000 flat in St John’s Wood, North London, on January 3.

He was arrested on suspicion of murder and supplying Class A drugs but last month Scotland Yard said he would face no charges.

The couple met in 1999 when both appeared in the BBC children’s programme See It, Saw It.

Stuart Goldsmith, 38, a childhood friend of Speight’s was reported as saying it was “scandalous” that police had taken six days to find Speight.

“Mark was in a bad way, that was obvious to everybody,” he said.

“The police should have thrown all their resources into trying to find him. It beggars belief that he could have been at a massive train station like Paddington for up to six days without being found.”

The BBC released a statement saying: “Our thoughts and sympathies are with Mark’s family and friends. Mark was a hugely talented and very popular presenter for many years.”

The Sun reported that hours before Speight’s body was discovered, his father made a plea for him to get in touch.

“Mark, wherever you are or whatever you are doing to give yourself time to deal with your own personal grief, we totally understand but we need you to get in touch,” Oliver Speight was quoted as saying.

“Please don’t give up on us because we are not giving up on you.”

Source: Sydney Morning Herald