ADEBIYI:CASUALTY ACTOR HANGED HIMSELF AFTER STRUGGLING TO FIND WORK
An actor who appeared in hit BBC drama The Street alongside Timothy Spall took his own life after struggling to find steady work, an inquest heard today (Weds).
Jamiu Adebiyi was found hanging in his bedsit after worried housemates called police to say they had not seen him for days.
His final message posted on his Facebook profile read simply: ‘I love you all’.
The single 28-year-old, originally from Nigeria, had been unemployed for months, building up rent arrears and eventually signing on for housing benefit, Southwark Coroner’s Court heard.
Older sister Adiola Adebiyi told the hearing that he was reluctant to find work in another industry.
She said: ‘Acting was his passion – that’s what he wanted to do.
‘We tried to say to him, ‘do something else’, ‘go and make money’ but that was what he wanted to do.
‘He didn’t want to do anything else.’
She added that just weeks before his death, on January 2 this year, Mr Adebiyi had sent her a text message in which he ‘talked about his childhood, about how he has never had support.’
The actor appeared in an episode of The Street in 2006 as African asylum seeker Ojo alongside Timothy Spall.
He had also played minor roles in Casualty and in four episodes of ITV series The Time of Your Life.
The inquest heard that he took an overdose of anti-depressant amitriptyline in 2000 but had not been treated for mental health problems since.
Pc Mike Morgan told the hearing that he was called to the five-bedroom property on Eastcombe Avenue, Charlton, southeast London, at around 2am on January 23.
He said: ‘We received a call from one of the housemates who stated their concern for him.
‘They had not seen him for a few days and they were unable to contact him on his mobile.
‘When trying to gain access to his room – they had a spare set of keys – the door appeared to be locked from the inside.
‘We knocked on the door and tried to gain access with the keys, but were unable to. Because of that we forced entry into the room.’
The officer said he saw a figure in a walk-in wardrobe and initially thought Mr Adebiyi was standing.
But, on closer inspection, he realised he was hanging from a scarf alongside.
The precise time of his death could not be established.
A suicide note was found elsewhere in the room inside a Koran.
In an online tribute written on March 6, actress Leilani Holmes wrote that he was ‘one of the most talented and positive people I have ever had the good fortune to know and love.’
She said: ‘He’d left a note saying sorry to his friends and family, he loved us, but things were too much to bear.
‘I knew he’d had a hard year both work-wise and financially.
‘I knew he’d worked very hard – I didn’t realise just how tough things had gotten for him.
‘This industry was too tough on my friend and, despite his successes, he struggled to earn a subsistance living until it slowly and terribly sucked his heart and his life away.’
A post-mortem report recorded the cause of death as suspension.
Passing a verdict of suicide, Coroner Adela Williams said: ‘He had a history of one previous episode of self-harm, and at the time he made a recovery.
‘During the intervening period, there is no evidence of any episodes of depression.
‘He was working as an actor, a profession which he clearly loved, but found it very difficult to find work – as so many others do.
‘Acting is notoriously difficult, and associated with many ups and downs, and constant rejection.
‘I am staisfied that he intended to take his own life, and I am therefore going to record a verdict that he took his own life.’
Verdict: Suicide.
ends
