A farmer was found hanging from a tree after he feared his youngest child had been fathered by another man, an inquest heard.
Damien Olverson was found at his farm in Ormskirk in Lancashire on January 2, with 377 milligrams of alcohol in his blood – enough to place him more than four times over the drink-drive limit.
The 43-year-old, who was battling depression, split with his wife Joanne Olverson in August 2016 after he began drinking following a failed cabbage harvest.
At an inquest into his death Ms Olverson said she would take a DNA test after her ex-husband had raised concerns her new partner Paul Latimer may have been the father of their fourth child.
Damien Olverson (pictured with his ex-wife Joanne and their children), feared his youngest child may have been fathered by another man
The 43-year-old split with his wife Joanne in August 2016 after he began drinking following a failed cabbage harvest. The couple are pictured here on their wedding day
Mr Olverson’s body was found by one of his farmhands.
At the inquest into his death in Preston, Mr Olverson’s father Eric questioned his former daughter-in-law about the paternity of the couple’s youngest son.
Mr Olverson Snr said: ‘When the fourth child was born, Damien was very unsure that the child was his own and I would like to know when Joanne first started having relations and a relationship with Paul and if the child is his.
‘It was an issue for Damien, he wasn’t sure the child was his and there was an element of doubt.’
Ms Olverson hit back: ‘He is Damien’s child, he signed the birth certificate. If you want me to do a DNA test pay for one and I’ll do it. My relationship with Paul started after Damien and I separated.
‘Damien and I split up due to his drinking. He was drinking as soon as he got up in the morning and would just drink and just lay on the sofa all day intoxicated, for days and weeks on end it would go on for.
‘We left because the children didn’t need to see that. The separation did affect him but he just drank more and more.
At an inquest into his death in Preston, Mr Olverson’s father Eric questioned his former daughter-in-law (pictured left and right with her new partner Paul Latimer), about the paternity of the couple’s youngest son
‘In October I dropped the children off with him and he said he was okay but he started drinking soon after I left. Later I got a call from the school saying that the boys weren’t in and Damien had kept them at home.
‘I found out as soon as I had left he had gone to the shop to get alcohol. On the day of his death he rang up wanting to speak to the boys but it was clear from his voice that he had been drinking.
‘I got a load of abuse down the phone, he then said he wanted to speak to one of the boys and he asked what had he been doing.
‘He asked him if he was happy and he said yes, and then the line just went dead.’
Family friend John Forshaw told the inquest Mr Olverson was ‘very big-hearted’ but had suffered during his acrimonious marriage break-up.
He said: ‘In September a mutual friend of ours got in contact with me to say that he was concerned about his drinking and I wanted to support Damien.
‘I was quite shocked at his appearance and he seemed to have given up – it was a shock. He seemed to have let himself go. He was quite volatile. He then had an accident in his van and he went on a course of counselling where it was suggested to him to cut down his drinking.
‘He had been doing well and Christmas was quite a challenging time but then something happened for him to relapse.
‘He would cry whenever he thought about the children, or whenever he saw them and that was the thing that really upset him.’
Ms Olverson told the inquest her relationship with Mr Latimer started after she and her husband split
The hearing was told Mr Olverson had made a previous attempt to hang himself but no suicide note was found at the farmhouse.
Coroner James Newman recorded a narrative conclusion but refused to comment on a proposed DNA test, adding: ‘This isn’t in my remit, it is not my job to pry into people’s personal lives.’
He said: ‘I hope that I have not blackened Damien’s name. He was fighting, and fought valiantly, against the greatest demons of our time, drink and mental illness. It is clear that he was struggling to fight, and it is a fight that he ultimately lost.
‘Tragically when his life ended he was seeking help. He was making attempts to reduce his alcohol intake.
‘The difficulty is that to fully assess mental health issues he had to be sober and sobriety was a challenge for him.
‘Something happened on January 2 to prompt Damien to take this action and it is clear that he had a phone call and a conversation with his children. But the matter of intent is not made out in this case.’
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