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A man who took his own life at a set of school gates had seen his life spiral out of control due to drug addiction, an inquest in Maidstone heard.
Coroner Alan Blunsdon heard that Patrick McGarry - known as Paddy - had been a hard-working, proud young man, with a first class qualification in construction.
He had been close to his family who said he loved to joke around and play pranks.
He made a point of never being in debt or claiming benefit.
Things went wrong after he left the family home in Tonbridge to move in with his girlfriend in Canterbury. He started a new job at a construction site there and began to mix with other workers who took drugs.
Mr McGarry, 24, soon become addicted to cocaine himself and also began drinking heavily.
His relationship with his partner - the mother of his two children - deteriorated and he left their shared home in 2019, staying first with his parents and then with friends in Brionne Gardens, Tonbridge.
In a statement to the court, his mother said his personality changed. He became unemployed, stopped feeding himself properly and began borrowing money.
He became an alcoholic and would carry a bottle of vodka around with him.
He became anxious and although his GP confirmed he was in good health with no chronic problems, the inside of his nose had worn away from cocaine use.
She said she was aware he had started dealing drugs, and police confirmed that in fact he had been arrested on suspicion of dealing drugs in January, with the charge still outstanding at the time of his death.
He had also spoken to friends of hearing voices in his head.
At 7.05am on Thursday, June 4, residents in Brionne Gardens noticed his body hanging from the metal gates at the entrance to Hillview School, which is located in that road. They called the police.
The school's CCTV later revealed that Mr McGarry had been there since just after 1am.
Mr Blunsdon heard that Mr McGarry had spent the previous day socialising with friends and had gone to visit his new girlfriend in the evening, where he had two phone calls with his uncle and was clearly very distressed.
He confessed to his uncle that he had twice previously tried to to take his own life.
In the early hours he suddenly got up and left the house with no explanation.
A post mortem found the cause of death was suspension, but there were also high levels of MDMA (ecstasy), cocaine and alcohol in his body.
DS Nuri Sadik said police had found no evidence of any third party involvement.
Having heard that on leaving the house Mr McGarry had taken with him the means by which he had suspended himself from the school gate, the coroner concluded that McGarry had purposely intended to take his own life.
He said it was clear that Mr McGarry's life had changed dramatically from around September 2018, when he had started taking drugs.
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