Judge's suicide over health fears

An 86-year-old retired judge killed himself after fearing that ill-health would make him a burden on his family, an inquest has been told.

Judge Charles Pitchford shot himself in the grounds of his home near Abergavenny, Monmouthshire.

He was found with a gun by his body by his wife last summer after he told her he planned to spend the day gardening.

The Newport inquest was told he feared he had Parkinson's disease, although it was not known if that was the case.

In a statement his widow Emily told the hearing: "In recent weeks he thought that he was suffering from Parkinson's disease."

Mrs Pitchford said she had taken him a cup of tea.

He killed himself whilst depressed over his perceived ill health and the burden it would cause to his family Gwent coroner David Bowen

"It was his intention to spend the day gardening. He didn't come in for lunch and didn't answer my calls," she said.

"I searched the grounds of our home and found his body with a shotgun by the side of him."

Judge Pitchford read law at Oxford before becoming a barrister and was called to the Bar in 1948.

He served as a counsel on the inquiry into the Aberfan disaster in 1966 - when a coal tip slid on to a school in the south Wales valleys - and he also sat as a judge on the Wales and Chester circuit between 1972 and 1987.

His son is a High Court judge, Mr Justice Christopher Pitchford.

Gwent coroner David Bowen recorded a suicide verdict.

Mr Bowen said: "He killed himself whilst depressed over his perceived ill-health and the burden it would cause to his family."