Speed Death May Have Been Accident

Former Newcastle United footballer and Wales manager Gary Speed may have killed himself accidentally, a coroner has ruled.

In a narrative verdict, Cheshire coroner Nicholas Rheinberg gave the cause of death as hanging but said ``the evidence does not sufficiently determine whether this was intentional or accidental''.
The inquest at Warrington Coroner's Court heard that Speed texted his wife days before his death and ``talked in terms of taking his life''.
The couple also ``had words'' on the night before he was found dead after they had been to a dinner party at a friend's house.
Speed, who played for Sheffield United, Everton, Newcastle, Leeds and Bolton, was found hanged at his Cheshire home on November 27 last year by his wife Louise.
But Mr Rheinberg said, in a narrative verdict, that the football manager may have ``nodded off'' while sitting with cable around his neck on the stairs in his garage.
The sportsman was hanging from a bannister with a piece of television aerial, the court has heard.
Mrs Speed confirmed there was no note or message left by her husband before his death.
In a statement read out after the inquest, Mr Speed's family said the day of his death was the ``worst day of our lives'' but his memory ``shines brightly in our thoughts''.