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Craig Rushton

Age: 20

Sex: male

Date: 18 Nov 2018

Place: George Avenue, Blackheath, Rowley Regis

Craig Rushton was found with a wound to his throat in George Avenue, Blackheath, just after midnight on Sunday 18 November 2018.

He was found opposite Blackheath Coronation Social Club by a member of the public at 12.16am slumped on the ground in a large pool of blood.

An open conclusion was returned. His inquest heard that his cause of death was a single stab wound to the neck which had the appearance of being self-inflicted with a bread knife that was found near his body.

None of the neighbours said that they had heard anything to suggest there had been an attack or altercation in the street at the time.

West Midlands Police stated that they were not treating his death as suspicious. A detective said, 'He didn’t have a mobile phone or wallet with him. Other than the knife, which was near his body, the only other item he had with him was his driving licence'.

The detective said that CCTV footage showed a single figure walking quite calmly into the alleyway at 10.58pm and added, 'I’m satisfied from that CCTV that no other person is captured walking into or out of the alleyway. There are blackspots, you don’t actually see what happens to Craig, but we do have footage of the entrance and exits'.

The detective said that there was no evidence to show that Craig Rushton had arranged to meet anyone that night, but added that his phone showed that he had been in touch with a drug dealer the day before, noting that he had talked about buying some 'lemon haze', a hybrid strand of cannabis, and ‘a tab’, but could not say whether he had made the purchase.

The detective added that Craig Rushton had also discussed drug taking on messages accessed via his Facebook account, stating, 'On several chats he mentions about being bored with life'.

The Coroner said, 'He was found on George Avenue. Police have told us he was found on the ground and there was a large pool of blood nearby. A kitchen knife was found next to the body. Police have suggested it appears the wound was self-inflicted and they are not treating his death as suspicious. The cause of death is provided as a stab wound to the neck'.

Whilst the inquest heard that a knife had gone missing from the family home, Craig Rushton's mother, who saw a photograph of the knife, said, 'It's not my knife, I'm positive'.

After hearing the evidence, the Coroner said, 'It is not clear from the evidence if the wounds were self-inflicted, however that does seem likely, or if there was third party involvement. There's no clear evidence he intended to take his own life so for those reasons I'm going to give an open conclusion as I can't be sure either way'.

However, his parents said that they didn't believe that he would hurt himself. His father said, 'The police think it's suicide but we don't agree. He was fine, there was nothing wrong. People don't commit suicide for no reason'.

Craig Rushton's father described his son as a 'quiet lad' who was learning to drive and to have been looking forward to taking time off at Christmas and going for a family holiday abroad.

He had lived in Britannia Road, Rowley Regis, and had worked as a warehouse operator.


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