Man decapitates himself after bitter divorce

What is behind a story under such a heading?

Telegraph.co.uk

A gym owner who decapitated himself in his Aston Martin sports car was heavily in debt and going through a bitter divorce, an inquest has heard.

By Jessica Salter
2008 08 08

[Gerald Mellin’s ex-wife, Gerald Mellin Mellin] said Mr Mellin had self-harmed and made a number of attempts on his life during their short and “horrendous” marriage.

He is of course no longer around to verify that.

Mr Mellin owned a gym and sun tanning centre. The pair had been in court the previous day where she was awarded an extra £100 a week from him.

An extra £100 a week? Over and above what and for what?  It was only a short marriage!  How short was it?  Why did she receive anything at all?  Given that Gerald Mellin was heavily in debt, why didn’t he receive support money from her?  Did he cause her to be crippled?  It seems that it was he who needed financial support more than she did.  What was the reason for him being so heavily in debt?  Was he heavily in debt before or after she took him to the cleaners?

…the cause of death was recorded as decapitation.

That was the method by which he took his life.  The fundamental cause that drove him to his death has been left undetermined.

The Telegraph missed a good opportunity for a great human interest story with this one.  Perhaps that is because Jessica Salter is an incapable journalist, but the cause of that surely is with the editors of the Telegraph.

This entry was posted on August 8, 2008 at 6:12 am and is filed under Media Bias, Divorce. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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