Dad pays tribute to popular Eastbourne builder

A well-known local figure, 41-year-old Paul Casey was found dead at his flat in Madeira Way on September 12 last year.

An inquest into his death, which was held at Eastbourne Town Hall on Thursday (January 5), heard how Paul had been a ‘popular and gregarious’ man, with a wide circle of friends.

In a statement read to the court Paul’s dad Bob Casey said, “Whenever I met with Paul I would notice he was very much the person everybody wanted to socialise with.

“In excess of 300 people attended Paul’s funeral. I knew he was popular but the turnout to his funeral made me very proud of my son.”

He added, “He was kind and thoughtful and was never any problem in his formative years. He did of course have his faults like all of us but was never any trouble to me or his mother.”

The inquest heard that Paul had begun living in the Madeira Way flat after the break-up of a long-term relationship with his ex-partner.

The court heard the couple had begun a relationship in 2004 and had moved in with each other not long after but had begun to have frequent arguments about Paul drinking.

Paul’s body was found by his flatmate Jamie Greenfield after he returned from work. Mr Greenfield phoned 999 after he was unable to find any signs of life. A post-mortem test later confirmed he had died by hanging.

The tests also found that he had a large quantity of alcohol in his system as well levels of cocaine indicating recreational use.

Assistant East Sussex Coroner Chris Wilkinson said, “From what I’ve heard Paul was clearly a loved and supported and popular individual. He had an eventful full life and childhood and had a lot of people around him. Paul was very much the life and soul of any party he went to.

“However it is also clear he and his partner had a very stormy relationship, although there was no doubt they were very fond of each other and there was no doubt they loved each other very much. But both of them were set on different paths.”

He added that at the time of his death Paul was experiencing emotional distress over the end of his relationship and had appeared to have taken his own life.

The coroner recorded a verdict of suicide.

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1) Make our website your homepage at www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/

2) Like our Facebook page at Text to display

3) Follow us on Twitter @Eastbournenews

4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

The Eastbourne Herald - always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.