The inquest into the death of Olympic boxer Darren Sutherland yesterday found there was “just sufficient doubt” about the circumstances of his death to prevent a verdict of suicide being recorded.
Delivering an open verdict at Croydon Coroner’s Court, Dr Roy Palmer said coroners had to be sure that an individual had “fully intended” to take his own life before returning a suicide verdict.
Giving evidence to the inquest, boxing manager Frank Maloney repeatedly rejected charges that he frightened former Irish Olympic boxer Darren Sutherland days before his death in 2009.
At Mr Sutherland's inquest yesterday, Mr Maloney said he had spotted Mr Sutherland's talent during the Beijing Olympics and thought "he had the perfect style for professional boxing".
He said he had spoken with his own father, who is Irish, about the boxer: "He said: 'Make sure that you get him, because he will bring you plenty of luck'."
Unlike other English-based managers interested in him, Mr Maloney said he had travelled to Dublin to meet Mr Sutherland and his friend and adviser, Mr Declan Brennan.
He had offered a £65,000 (€78,000) signing-on fee but raised it to £75,000 after Mr Brennan told him he "had a minute to decide", along with £100,000-a-year salary, a rent allowance and a car.
Mr Maloney said he believed when he first met Mr Sutherland that "he was very conscious of his appearance, I would say that he was a little vain, he seemed to be very focused.
"He said that he really wanted to earn a lot of money to buy a big place for his parents," said Mr Maloney, who has previously managed boxers Lennox Lewis and Chris Eubanks, among others.
He said he had bought a £245,000 three-bedroomed flat in Bromley as an investment, which he offered to Mr Sutherland to live in once an £18,000 refurbishment was completed. Mr Sutherland moved into the Maloney home while the work got under way and the two men frequently watched boxing videos in the early hours because neither slept much, the tribunal heard.
"I would often come down at 4am and Darren would be sitting down making himself some porridge and playing [on] an Xbox," he told the coroner.
"The only thing that I thought was unusual was that he always wanted reassurance. Was he my favourite fighter? Would he make it?" Mr Maloney said.
Mr Sutherland eventually did not move into the flat offered by Mr Maloney, because Mr Sutherland's mother, Linda, complained that it was not ready during one of her visits to London. "She demanded that Darren move out [of the Maloney home] and that she would find him a flat," he said, adding he found Mr Sutherland a hotel when his mother looked for one.
Mrs Sutherland subsequently rented a one-bedroomed flat in Bromley 'looking out over a graveyard', he said, insisting the one he had offered was far superior.
The cut Mr Sutherland received in the fight in June was not "a big deal" for Mr Maloney or his team," he said, although it became an issue for the boxer while the Maloneys were on holiday in Portugal.
Mr Joe Dunbar, who had helped Mr Sutherland with some of his training, called to say that the boxer was worried and that "he wasn't himself".
On his return from Portugal, Mr Maloney said he met Mr Sutherland on the Monday before he died: "I asked where his mother was. He said he wanted to speak to me on his own."
Mr Sutherland said he did not know what he wanted to do and talked about becoming a personal fitness trainer: "I laughed a bit at that and said, 'You're a bit beyond that'."
He said he had told the former Olympian that he had himself lost confidence at one point in his career and had gone to speak with a counsellor and still does so occasionally. "I offered to make an appointment with my life-counsellor," he said, adding that the appointment was made for the evening of the day Mr Sutherland was found hanged in his flat.
Rejecting allegations that Mr Sutherland was frightened of him, he told coroner Dr Palmer: "We actually ended up putting our arms around each other."
Later, Mr Maloney's barrister, Mr Michael Nelson, said the boxer had texted his trainer, Bryan Lawrence, after the meeting, saying it had gone well and that he was "chilled out".
On the following Thursday, Mr Maloney met Mr Sutherland, Mr Lawrence, Mr Brennan and Mr Dunbar, adding Mr Brennan tried "to gee him up about the great talent that he was wasting". He said he had told Mr Sutherland that "it is your choice" if he did not want to box, and that lawyers would sort out the signing-on fee if he wanted to take a year off.
Later, the five went for dinner. Mr Sutherland was quieter than usual: "I booked a table and we talked about boxing because we don't talk about much else."
On Friday, he said Mr Brennan had told him during a car journey that Mr Sutherland "had had a big fight with his family the night before" adding that Mr Brennan said he needed structure and discipline. "I said as a 27-year-old and as a professional athlete he is a man and he has got to be able to make some decisions on his own," Mr Maloney said.
Later that day, Mr Sutherland told him that he felt he was coming under pressure to box: "I said that the pressure is not coming from my side," his former manager told the inquest.
Mr Sutherland expressed concerns about losing his income if he stopped boxing and that he would have to leave the flat - for which Mr Maloney was paying - and have to return his car. "He said: 'But I will be poor.' I said that that is not my problem. It is your decision. If you want to box I will give you 100 per cent support," said the manager.
However, he denied that he had sought the return of all of the £75,000 signing-on fee, saying that Mr Sutherland had served some of the time and "that the lawyers would sort it out".
"There are some fighters you shout and scream at and there are some that you might put your arms around and comfort them. Darren was one that you put your arms around," he went on.
On the Friday night, at a boxing contest in Brentwood in Essex, Mr Maloney said he became embroiled in a row with a referee about a fight decision:
"I am quite passionate about my fighters." Asked if his display would have frightened Mr Sutherland, Mr Maloney said: "I think it would have shown that I care about my fighters and that I am very protective [of them]."
The referee subsequently faced an inquiry by the British Boxing Board of Control, and it ordered that a rematch be held immediately, he told the inquest.
Denying he had pressured Mr Sutherland to box, he said: "You can't make somebody box if they don't want to. You can drag a horse to water but you can't make him drink it."
On Saturday, he said he walked Mr Sutherland to his car after the boxer had watched X-Factor at his home with his wife and children, telling him as they parted: "If you want any company, you know where we are."
On Monday, September 14th, he said he called Mr Sutherland's mobile and then asked other staff to call as well because he was "a little bit worried".
Later, he and Mr Dunbar went to the Bromley flat and became more worried when they saw his car in the car park. Eventually, they got keys from the estate agent to gain entry, the inquest was told.
Inside the flat, they found Mr Sutherland's body. "That image will live with me for the rest of my life," he said, adding: "I think I flipped out, I don't know."
He said there were notes on the table but denied that he had removed a letter addressed to him: "You are saying that you did not read it, and you did not take it away," he was asked. "No, sir, I did not," Mr Maloney replied.
Raising a copy of the local Bromley Times newspaper, which featured the inquest, Mr Maloney said: "Everybody can surmise what they like. I know what I did. I am not a monster, and somebody has tried to paint me as a monster. I have had to live with all this s*** in the paper," he said, becoming visibly distressed as he spoke.
"Why did this young man do this?" he went on, before he broke into tears. Coroner Dr Palmer then called a brief adjournment to allow Mr Maloney to recover. He said he had been taken to hospital after discovering the body, adding that doctors believed that he had had a heart attack at a boxing contest three days before.
Later, he clashed frequently with the Sutherland family's barrister, Mr Michael Topolski, pointing out Mr Sutherland would have earned £270,000 in his first two years with him, along with benefits.
During tense exchanges between Mr Maloney and Mr Topolski, the former said Mr Sutherland feared "he would never have a relationship with a girl and he feared losing his money".
Denying Mr Sutherland was frightened of him, the manager said Mr Sutherland had told his friend, Ms Ismay Bourke, that Mr Maloney had remortgaged his house and "that was a lie". He said Mr Sutherland's declaration to Ms Bourke that there "would be trouble" if he did not go to a boxing match in Brentwood on the Friday before he died "was simply untrue".
Mr Topolski pressed Mr Maloney about the letter allegedly left by Mr Sutherland for him: "Where's the letter that Darren wrote to you? No idea? Yes, you do."
Following a declaration by Mr Maloney that "professional boxers get paid to box", Mr Topolski replied: "You lost your temper, didn't you?" Mr Maloney denied the charge. He said he had offered Mr Sutherland a sandwich and tea when the two met in his office on the Monday before he died: "I was annoyed with him, he had so much talent."
He denied that he had ordered the boxer's cut to be touched up for publicity photographs. "Darren was quite vain. He bought the make-up himself. I don't have a problem with fighters with black eyes. It is quite good, in fact," he said, adding some boxers like to wear dark glasses "as a symbol".
Indicating the degree of support that he had given to Mr Sutherland, he said Lennox Lewis was the only other fighter for whom he had paid accommodation bills.
Mr Sutherland had "a good contract" - the best that he had ever given to a former Olympian, adding he had not pressured him to fight. Another boxer in his stable had gone nearly a year without fighting. He had signed a three-year promoter's contract with Mr Sutherland, but the management contract was just for a year in case the boxer wanted to do the job himself, or hire someone else.
"I wanted to sign Darren. I thought he was a special fighter. There was something about the boy that I liked," he said, adding that the contract was balanced in Mr Sutherland's favour. Olympic medals, he said, do not pay bills, but they do allow the most talented boxers, "like Darren" to "use their medals to bargain for a very good contract".
Shortly afterward, Mr Maloney and Mr Sutherland's father, Tony, exchanged words after Mr Maloney said: "I am very sorry for what happened to your son", adding that he would loved to sit down and sort it out. Clearly angry, Mr Sutherland rose from his seat, saying: "It is a bit late now, it is too little, too late." The boxer's father did left the room to compose himself.
Mr Maloney's wife, Tracy told the inquest Mr Sutherland had lived with her family for over three months and had adored, and been adored by, her children.
He had been upset on the Saturday before his death because he had had a row with his family and did not know if he wanted to continue boxing, she said. "He said that he felt that he wasn't a very nice person and that he felt empty. I was concerned because he had never spoken like that. I told him that he was a great person and that everybody loved him.
"I said that he shouldn't run himself down and said, 'You've got everything going for you and that everyone would be helping you'," she told coroner Dr Palmer.
Mrs Maloney said she asked him if he wanted to come for Sunday lunch and "told him that he could come around at any time if he felt he needed company". She said she had used micro-current therapy on swollen skin around a cut he had suffered during a boxing match in June that had not healed, but had not used it on the wound itself.
"He was very concerned about the cut, more concerned than I thought was necessary," said Mrs Maloney, saying that she was trained to use the treatment and had used it to help other boxers.
Later, the boxer went for a meal with the family and came back with them to their home to watch an episode of musical talent show X Factor.
Over lunch, Mr Topolski delivered a submission to the coroner, saying the family did not want a verdict of suicide returned but rather an open verdict.
The family hoped that professional boxing organisations would do more to ease the path for those who make "Darren's journey" from amateur status to the professional ranks "in this Olympic year".
However, Mr Maloney's barrister, Michael Nelson, said he believed that the appropriate verdict was one of suicide: "It wasn't a case of systemic failure, it was a terrible tragedy."
Delivering his ruling, Dr Palmer said coroners had to be sure that an individual had "fully intended" to take his own life before a suicide verdict could be returned.
"The test is very high, one that is comparable to murder, to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, he said, adding: 'There must be positive evidence and no other explanation."
Reaching an open verdict instead, Dr Palmer said there was "just sufficient doubt" to prevent him declaring Mr Sutherland's death to be suicide.
Describing Mr Sutherland, he said he had been described during the inquest as happy, always smiling, perfectly mannered and diligent but panicky, introverted and a worrier.
He was anxious "full-stop", said the coroner: "He always tried to be the best he could. He would not want to let anyone down. I think he feared failure."
Finding that he died by asphyxiation, the coroner said that he was "minded" to write a report to the boxing authorities to see if anything can be done for young boxers becoming professional.
"Whether anything can be done, I know not," said Dr Palmer, before he offered his deep sympathies to the Sutherland "on their very sad loss".
