Carl Sargeant’s Jack and widow Bernadette arrive for his inquest in Ruthin this morning
A former minister who was sacked and later found dead was ‘out of his depth’ after sexual misconduct allegations were made, his wife told an inquest today.
Carl Sargeant, 49, was found hanged at his home in Connah’s Quay, North Wales, by wife Bernadette on November 7, 2017.
The Alyn and Deeside AM’s death came four days after he was sacked from his job as cabinet secretary for communities and children in Wales after claims he had groped and touched women.
Today, Mrs Sargeant told an inquest at Ruthin County Hall that her husband was ‘shell-shocked’ by the claims and agreed he was ‘destroyed’ after losing his post, but insisted she believed him ‘100 per cent’ when he denied allegations he had groped and touched women.
She also told how her husband called her on November 3 saying he had been removed from government and suspended from the Labour Party.
She said: ‘I think Carl’s words at first were ‘I’ve been binned’. I said ‘Well, that’s OK, love, it’s fine’. He said something about allegations and I said ‘What do you mean?’ He said ‘I don’t know, I have got no idea’.’
She said that, after he was sacked, he told her he had only been given a broad description of the allegations and First Minister Carwyn Jones had said he could not give him any more information and the matter had been passed to the Labour Party.
She said: ‘He was shocked, you could feel this has come as a total shock to him.’
Former First Minister Carwyn Jones (left, pictured outside the inquest in Ruthin yesterday) was accused of being a liar at the inquest into the death of politician Carl Sargeant (right)
Mrs Sargeant said her husband was ‘desperate for information’ and told her he was going to seek legal advice.
She added: ‘He’s been sacked, then there had been that (the allegations) as well, but no support was offered to him, so it was like ‘What do I do?”
Mrs Sargeant said the allegations were particularly difficult for her husband because of his work campaigning against domestic abuse of women.
She said: ‘I think you could say many other things, but because it was involving people who he really wanted to help he was shell-shocked.’
She said she had received an anonymous letter in 2014 which made allegations about her husband’s behaviour around women. ‘We talked about, I didn’t believe it, and that was it,’ she said.
She told the coroner’s court that her husband had been prescribed anti-depressants in 2012 and 2014 following a traumatic life event but had been ‘in a better place’ until the week before his death, when things deteriorated.
Cathryn McGahey QC, representing Mr Jones, asked Mrs Sargeant if she thought her husband may have been shocked because some ‘discreditable behaviour’ of his had been found out.
Mrs Sargeant said: ‘No. Carl and I would have been married 27 years, we had been married 25 years then. I asked him directly and I 100 per cent believe what he told me.’
The court heard Mrs Sargeant found her husband on the floor in the washroom adjacent to the kitchen on the morning of November 7.
In a note placed on the door, Mr Sargeant said: ‘I’ve let you all down badly, you deserve none of this adverse publicity because of my acts.’
Mrs Sargeant said she believed that to refer to him taking his own life.
She said he told her on November 3 he had only been given a broad description of the allegations, and then first minister Mr Jones had said he could not give him any more information and the matter had been passed to the Labour Party.
‘He had no information and nothing other than just that broad spectrum of what they had said,’ she told the court. ‘He was desperate for information.’
Mr Sargeant’s family at the inquest yesterday, which resumed after being adjourned last year
Mrs Sargeant, who had children Jack and Lucy with her husband, said the allegations were particularly difficult because of his work campaigning against domestic abuse of women.
She told the court she and the family had travelled down to Cardiff to see Mr Sargeant on November 3 and he appeared ‘ashen’ and ‘deflated’.
She said: ‘It was the worst time ever of my family’s life and it still doesn’t feel real.’
Mrs Sargeant said she believed more support should have been put in place for her husband.
She said: ‘I never want this to happen to anybody else. My children have lost their dad, it’s 609 days today. Lessons have got to be learned.’
The court heard that Mrs Sargeant had met her husband in Connah’s Quay when she was about 17.
Coroner for North Wales (East and Central) John Gittins asked if it was love at first sight and she replied: ‘Something like that.’
He became involved in politics when he joined the town council, before becoming an Assembly Member in 2003, she said.
Yesterday, Mr Jones was accused of lying in court over what support was given to Mr Sargeant.
The inquest which was adjourned in November, heard from Mr Jones for a second time yesterday about the help offered to the late politician.
The court also heard from Vale of Clwyd AM Ann Jones, who contradicted Mr Jones’s evidence that she had a role in providing care for Mr Sargeant after he lost his post.
The court heard that since his first evidence, Mr Jones had given a further statement in which he said, on reflection, he was not correct to tell the inquest he had spoken to Mrs Jones over the weekend between Mr Sargeant losing his role and his death.
He said: ‘That’s what I thought at the time, but after further thought and having looked at the transcript, I sought to clarify that.’
Leslie Thomas QC, representing Mrs Sargeant and her son Jack, suggested Mr Jones was ‘caught in a lie’. Mr Jones said: ‘Are you calling me a liar?’
Mr Thomas replied: ‘Yes I am. The untruth only came to light when the witness came forward and you were caught out in a lie.’ Mr Jones said: ‘Not at all.’
Senior coroner for North Wales (East and Central) John Gittins said: ‘Either you were mistaken in what you said to me or I was misled, and perhaps deliberately so, with a view to some type of PR that made your position somewhat more tenable.’
The inquest continues tomorrow when it is expected to hear evidence from Jack Sargeant.