Zoe Ball tried to save her lover before he killed himself, inquest hears

Zoe Ball tried in vain to help her troubled boyfriend after two previous suicide attempts, an inquest has heard.

Billy Yates, 40, whom the presenter had been dating for several months, had suffered from depression for several years before killing himself last May.

The BBC cameraman had concerns over a large tax bill but his relationship with Ball was going well when he was found dead at his London home, Westminster Coroner's Court heard.

The pair began dating after Ball, a Strictly Come Dancing presenter, and her husband Norman Cook, the DJ Fatboy Slim, separated in 2016.

They had a "beautiful relationship" and were the "love of each others' life" after meeting through their television work, his family told the coroner.

Mr Yates, a former Royal Marine, had first tried to take his own life by crashing his car in November 2016, after which Ball, 47, paid for a two week stay in the Priory clinic as well as organising visits to private therapists and his mental health began to improve.

But months later, he tried to kill himself again by inhaling toxic fumes. He called an NHS crisis number the following day but did not follow their advice to go to accident and emergency, the inquest heard.

Dr Barbara Rooney, a consultant psychiatrist from the Priory, described how Ball had tried to help him.

She said that although Mr Yates had suffered depression for ten years the couple had been getting on well and had gone on holiday to Goa last January.

Mr Yates, who worked on Antiques Roadshow, Xtra Factor and Famous and Fearless, had been sober since August 2016.

He had attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting two days before his death where he had appeared friendly and happy.

On May 4 last year he began to drink again and was found to have 92mg per 100 milligrams of alcohol in his blood, putting him just over the drink-drive limit.

He hanged himself at his apartment in Putney, south west London, and Brad Abbotts, a long-time friend, found his body later that day.

Mr Abbotts said: "We kept in regular contact and I am aware that in the last five years Billy suffered depression and it got so bad that he tried to crash his car.

"It was a cry that he needed help.”

He said he had received a text from a friend that day asking if he had heard from Mr Yates and went straight to his flat to check on him.

In  a statement, Mr Yates' family said he and Ball had a “beautiful relationship” and were “the love of each other’s life.”

They said he had been a Royal Marine until he broke his leg and left the armed forces. He then launched a career in television, working on reality show Greece Uncovered.

"He suffered greatly from depression which plagued him on and off for years, but life became too much for him,” they said.

Assistant Westminster Coroner Shirley Radcliffe said Mr Yates returned an open verdict as she could not be certain his death was not a drunken, impulsive act.

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