A bakery thief hanged himself after ‘human error’ from police wrongly named him as a paedophile, an inquest has been told.
Brian Temple, 34, died on December 31, 2017 – six months after being arrested on June 8 for allegedly stealing a pack of sausage rolls from Greggs.
After he was released from custody he was handed his release papers and made his way back to his home in Redcar.
Without properly reading the documents, he handed them to his then girlfriend when he got back.
But police had made a serious with the papers, Teeside Coroners Court heard.
Instead of listing his theft from Greggs, the documents wrongly stated he had been in custody for inciting sexual relations with a 13-year-old girl.
His disgusted then girlfriend began telling people of the incorrect information.
Members of the community turned on him and he was reportedly verbally abused in the street, attacked in his own home and hit around the head by a golf club.
The court heard Mr Temple began to drink heavily after the false accusation and take a mixture of both prescribed medication and recreational drugs, such as cocaine.
Coroner Claire Bailey explained that a toxicology report carried out by Dr Cooper found Brian had 134mg of alcohol in his system, as well as a mixture of cocaine, Diazepam, Zopiclone and Pregablin, but that these did not contribute to his death.
Dr Cooper concluded that Mr Temple’s death was as a result of hanging. His body was found by his brother Anthony, after his mother’s partner, Paul Daley, became concerned that they had not heard from him all day.
