Watlington man Adrian Venni who ‘looked after everyone’ was facing financial difficulty, inquest hears

A 56-year-old who was “always happy” and “looked on the brighter side of life” was found unresponsive after facing financial difficulty, an inquest has heard.

Adrian Venni, who lived in Watlington, was found by officers after they received a call from one of his friends saying they had received a text message from him saying “goodbye” along with his what3words location code.

Police arrived at the scene on a piece of private property in Wereham - which Adrian owned - to find him hanging from a tree on April 10 at 5.10pm.

A police officer removed Adrian from the tree and attempted CPR until paramedics arrived to take over. Adrian was pronounced dead at 5.57pm.

Officers found a handwritten note in Adrian’s car located nearby.

An inquest to determine the cause of Adrian’s death took place at Norfolk Coroner’s Court yesterday, with senior coroner for Norfolk Jacqueline Lake concluding that Adrian had died by suicide.

The court heard a statement provided by Adrian’s wife Karen, who said that there was “nothing unusual” about her husband’s behaviour on the morning that he died.

She described him as “always happy” and “looked on the brighter side of life” and that he “looked after everyone”.

The statement added that Adrian had survived cancer.

Adrian was a partner of a renewable energy company and would often go on site visits for work.

On April 10, Adrian left his home at around 8am to attend a board meeting for work.

His wife became concerned when she did not hear from him later that afternoon about where he was. She said that this was unusual.

“He gave no indication that he was going to hang himself,” his wife’s statement said.

The court heard that Adrian was facing some financial difficulty and had previously borrowed money from family and friends, but kept this a secret from his wife. The pair were due to move house that week.

A report from the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust said that Adrian referred himself to their services for counselling in September 2022 and had completed a couple of sessions.

A report from Adrian’s GP - Watlington Medical Centre - stated that the 56-year-old was not diagnosed with any mental health problems.

Mrs Lake offered her condolences to Adrian’s family.

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