Rupert Green, 21, who hanged himself in January last year
The Skunk-addicted son of Lord Nicholas Monson hanged himself in his mother’s garden after he became convinced his university flatmates were spying on him, an inquest heard.
Rupert Green, 21, of Farnham, Surrey, also told his father in a chilling phone call that he was going to kill himself after he refused to give him £1,000 to spend on alcohol and drugs, a hearing was told.
He had become psychotic and had believed that his female roommates at his University of Essex accommodation, were he studied biology, had turned against him and were hacking into his computer.
It is the second tragedy to hit peer Lord Monson, the 12th Baron Monson, of Burton, Lincolnshire, whose eldest son, Alexander Monson, died in police custody in Kenya in 2012.
Speaking at Woking Coroners court today Lord Monson said he refused to hand over cash when he was contacted by his son.
Lord Monson told the hearing: ‘He said, ‘you think I’m going to spend the money you send me on drink and drugs’.
‘He said, ‘well I am’, and I said, ‘right well I’m not sending you any money’.
‘He said to me a few expletives and he said the night before he had tried to kill himself by running around in front of traffic but this time he was going to make a proper job of it and stand in front of a train.
Lord Nicholas Monson and the mother of his son Rupert, Karen Green, at Woking Coroner’s Court this morning
‘He said have a happy life and he put down the telephone.’
Rupert’s mother Karen Green told the inquest that she texted a mental health nurse the day he took his own life asking for help – but got ‘no reply’
In the months before his death in January 2017, he had also threatened to kill himself several times and spent three weeks in a mental health unit, the hearing was told.
He was rushed to hospital after his mother found him during a police search, but died after five days on life support.
Surrey and Borders NHS Foundation Trust, which cared for Rupert, launched an investigation following the claim he was denied a hospital bed.
Lord Monson with his son Rupert Green who hanged himself in his mothers garden
Mrs Green said weeks before the death he asked to return to hospital after his earlier release for mental health problems.
She said: ‘Before Christmas 2016 Rupert asked to be readmitted to hospital.
‘The nurses told me he would not fit the criteria so he would not be admitted.’
In the days before his death he then reported hearing voices, the inquest heard.
Mrs Green said: ‘He said he was the son of God, people made the sign of the cross when he walked by and called him shepherd.
‘There was more delusional stuff.’
She said that the day he hanged himself, Rupert ‘talked about killing himself because I was hiding the truth from him.’
The inquest heard she sent a text to a nurse at 5pm which said, ‘I don’t know how to cope’, but ‘no reply was received.’
Later that evening he was seen by his grandmother holding a knife but denied he was trying to harm himself.
He then went missing shortly after and a police helicopter called to help the search spotted him in the garden of Mrs Green’s home.
Mrs Green said: ‘The police helicopter overhead reported that they saw somebody by the swing in the garden. I went around and saw Rupert hanging.’
She added: ‘The loss of Rupert is a life sentence of devastating proportions.’
Alexander Monson died from blunt force trauma to the head after he was stopped in a car outside a nightclub in the Kenyan beach resort of Diani in May 2012
The inquest heard Rupert’s life had ‘appeared to be proceeding smoothly’ until his family spotted problems in the Easter holiday of 2016.
He claimed roommates at the University of Essex, where he studied biology, were spying on him.
Mrs Green said: ‘He told me that the girls in the shared house he had in Colchester were hacking his computer and spying on him.’
Rupert then returned home from university in summer and went to visit his father, but returned home shortly after, following an argument.
She said: ‘He said that his father had been unreasonable.
‘According to his father, Rupert had threatened to punch him when he had not helped out as asked.’
Lord Monson told the inquest Rupert had become aggressive when he questioned the claim he was being spied on.
He said: ‘He turned around and he said if you ever say such a thing again I’m going to punch you.’
Mrs Green said Rupert’s behaviour prompted her to arrange a GP appointment for him, but ‘nothing happened’ when he told the doctor he was depressed.
He was eventually referred to an Early Intervention and Psychosis Team two weeks later and prescribed medication, including diazepam, on September 20.
But he then returned to university in October despite his mother’s wishes, she said.
Mrs Green said: ‘I didn’t want him to go but the EIPT said they could not stop him, although they agreed.’
The inquest heard after he returned to the campus, in Colchester, he asked his dad for money, which prompted the argument about drugs.
Police were then called over the suicide threat and Rupert then spent three weeks in a mental health unit, the inquest heard.
Mrs Green added: ‘He was sent home after three weeks and claimed he was okay.
‘It turned out he had not been studying or attending lectures at all so he had to come home to Surrey.’
Describing how the mental health issues affected his son, Lord Monson added: ‘He was a very good artist.
‘He had been painting and it was as if he had reverted to being a four-year-old child and I thought, this poor young man.’
An inquest last year found that Alexander, aged 28, had died at the hands of the police.
In June it emerged five police officers are to be charged with murder and trying to cover it up as a drug overdose.
He died from blunt force trauma to the head after he was stopped in a car outside a nightclub in the Kenyan beach resort of Diani in May 2012.
His family maintained he was beaten to death while police claimed he died of a drug overdose.
A court ruled in the family’s favour, dismissing the police narrative.
Kenyan magistrate Richard Odenyo said four officers will be charged with murdering the 28-year-old, who died while in police custody after being arrested for allegedly smoking cannabis outside a bar.
Since Rupert’s death, Lord Monson has launched a campaign calling for skunk to be reclassified from a Class B drug to Class A.
Rupert was the child of Lord Monson and Kate Green, who met after he split from his first wife in 1990.
Their relationship did not last and Monson was not seriously involved with Rupert until he became a teenager.
The hearing, which is expected to last for three days, continues.
- For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details
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