Philip Burns: who was he? How did the 36-year-old man hang himself?
After returning home after a night out, a man accidentally hanged himself while “joking”. He tried to scare off his fiancee. On February 28, 36-year-old Philip Burns died at his home on Thomson Street in Carlisle. According to the Cockermouth Coroner’s Court, Burns spent weekdays at work in Glasgow and weekends seeing his fiancée, Michelle Delahunty-Evans, in Carlisle.
He had arrived in Carlisle that afternoon and he and his fiancee had gone to the pub to take part in a quiz. Although Burns was believed to have used some cocaine, he did not do so frequently. They had “quite a few drinks” and “laughed” as they went out in Carlisle on Sunday February 27. They returned home, she said, and were “joking around” and being “silly.”
Delahunty-Evans claimed that as she turned toward the door while watching TV and singing along, she noticed Burns standing there. She said that when they watched “American Horror Story” that weekend, Burns tried to scare her. Further investigation revealed that Burns had been “playing around” to get his fiancee’s attention. The emergency services were called shortly after 3:30 a.m. because of a 36-year-old man who was not breathing.
Delahunty-Evans ran outside and asked for help as she couldn’t find her phone to call 999. A police officer handling the incident reported that when he arrived someone tried to resuscitate a man who was lying on the ground and not breathing. According to him, Burns’ companion was “intoxicated” and “shocked” by what was transpiring. When a police officer arrived, Burns was already on the ground, the door frame was damaged.
A toxicology test on his blood revealed that he had significant amounts of alcohol and tested positive for cocaine. coroner dr. Nicholas Shaw claimed that Burns had not expressed any desire to commit suicide recently. “When someone is found hanged, the initial assumption is that they have committed suicide,” he told the Daily Mail. Philip has no history of mental illness or self-harm. He had spent the night outside and seemed to be enjoying himself.
“In general, people don’t commit suicide while in the same room with others. I have a hard time accepting that he committed suicide. Based on the fact that they had fun, I tend to think that he is to blame for this mistake. Nobody will be aware of this. Dead Philip can’t communicate with us. I think he was probably playing around when something went wrong, he continued. He claimed that Burns was most likely hanging on the door to scare his fiancé when the rope tightened, killing him. according to dr To Shaw, Burns’ death was an accident, with hanging listed as the cause of death.