Westbury father found in lake 'took his own life' (From Wiltshire Times)

Westbury father found in lake 'took his own life'

7:30am Thursday 21st January 2010

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By James Williams »

A father from Westbury died after taking an overdose of prescription drugs and then jumping into a lake, an inquest heard.

Zowie Tobin, 23, who lived with his partner Samantha Cowdrey, 21, their nine-month-old daughter Courtney, and her son Liam, two, in Lilac Grove, was found dead in Penleigh Lake on August 12.

Assistant Deputy Coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon, Ian Singleton, ruled that Mr Tobin took his own life at an inquest in Trowbridge Town Hall on Wednesday.

The inquest heard that Mr Tobin had alcohol and prescription drugs Diazepam and the anti-depressant Amitriptyline in his system.

His girlfriend of three years, Samantha Cowdrey, told the hearing that her partner was trying to give up cannabis, a drug that he had been taking since about 14.

“He did smoke cannabis everyday about 1.7 grams which is about £10 worth. It helped him with stress,” she said.

“He was quite pleased with himself for trying to come off the cannabis. He didn’t want to be reliant on something and didn’t want it around the kids.”

On August 7, Mr Tobin went to his GP surgery, White Horse Surgery, in Hospital Road, Westbury, and was prescribed to take one or two Diazepam a day, to help him come off cannabis.

The next day, Miss Cowdrey recalled her partner was not himself.

She said: ”He just sat in the chair for a minute and then grabbed his tablets. He told me he was going to kill himself and left.

“I was worried but I just thought he was in a bad mood and had gone to calm down. I thought he would be round his mum’s.”

When Mr Tobin didn’t return home by Monday morning, Miss Cowdrey and Mr Tobin’s father, Keith Tobin, went to look for him.

Miss Cowdrey said: “I went to the lakes because his granddad’s ashes were scattered there he said if he ever went missing he’d sit there because it was peaceful.”

However they couldn’t find Mr Tobin. Two days later his body was found there by a dog walker.

PC Alex Curtis, of Melksham CID, told the inquest: “It was apparent to me that the body had been in the water for a couple of days. There were no noticeable injuries. The clothes were undisturbed. There were no signs of struggle or any suspicious circumstances in my opinion.”

PC Curtis found cans of Fosters lager, a can of Dr Pepper, a box of Diazepam and an empty packet of 28 Amitriptyline tablets, prescribed to Mr Tobin’s mother Carol, by the edge of the lake.

After the hearing, Carol Tobin, of Timor Road, Westbury, said she was ‘satisfied’ with the verdict.

She added: “Obviously I’m still grieving and I’m going to be grieving for a long time.

“There are still unanswered questions as to why Zowie did what he did.

“I would like to thank the man who found Zowie’s body for reporting it to the police so quickly as well as everyone who gave evidence at the inquest and the Wiltshire Times who have put in lovely tributes.”

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onthesofa, wilts says...
10:20am Thu 21 Jan 10

.A very sad time for his family and sad also that he felt this was his only way out,may he rest in peace now.