(October 24, 1964 – February 20, 2009)
There were glowing tributes to the young man who seemed to be everyone’s darling, and these gave no hint of any depression or inner anguish still less despair. He was a happy man. I reckon quite a few of those present doubted whether he had taken his life, but nothing was said. His mother didn’t know of any depression from which he was suffering, and assured me that the day before on Feb 18th some pals of his had found him to be his normal, chirpy self. Later I spoke to a computer-encryption expert who had helped Paul write some programs, and he assured us (I and SP) that various people had found him to be quite OK on Thursday 19th: it was a normal day for him.
Yes, he could swim. No, there was no pier nearby for him to fall off. The seafront was next to the Royal Marines Museum, in Eastney, the pier was over a mile away. A chap who had known Paul for over twenty years, who had been his lodger, told me he did not believe Paul could have taken his life like that, because he was too rational and balanced. He had seen Paul be hardly phased by huge financial-debt problems at times. He recalled that that stretch of pebbly beach had happy memories for Paul, because he had earlier been involved with the BBC filming a ‘Magical Mystery’ tour-type program there (I can’t remember exactly what he told me). People are saying Paul was a bit of a manic-depressive, I asked him, but he rejected that.
http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=10359
Wheeler files - part two
5 months ago