A former NFU livestock board chair took his own life after his lawfully held guns were returned to him.听
High profile farmer Richard Haddock was said to be 鈥榙epressed' after he was prosecuted by the Environment Agency for allowing illegal waste to be dumped on his land in Devon.
His firearms had been seized by Devon and Cornwall police in November 2021 following concerns made to officers by a family friend who said that Mr Haddock was depressed and had 'good days and bad days'.听
The coroner was told that Mr Haddock had repeatedly asked the police to return the guns, which after a delay, did happen in November 2022.
Coroner
Mr Haddock, who served on his local council and had protested on behalf of farmers against fuel costs and meat imports, shot himself just two days after he admitted six charges at Exeter Crown Court of contravening Environment Agency (EA) permits between 2010 and 2020.
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An inquest at Exeter Coroner's Court today (November 24) heard he was waiting to be sentenced at a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing and his wife said he feared going to jail.
But the inquest also heard he faced many other stresses including bankruptcy, divorce and a cancer health scare.
Mrs Haddock said he was bankrupt after losing a long-term boundary dispute with Churston Golf Club in south Devon which ended in the High Court and the 66-year-old paying out a lot of money and losing their home and farm in Kingswear. They then became tenant farmers at Churston where the EA offences were committed.
Mrs Haddock told the hearing: "He thought the EA were making an example of him."
She said he felt it was 'deeply unfair' that the EA were pursuing the 'small guys' and claimed the agency said it was not interested in taking on 'the big guys like the building companies'.
She said in the week before his death he became 'obsessed' with the EA case and he became more agitated.
Mr Haddock had also consulted a GP and had been due to have a face to face appointment the day after he died.
Dr Tania Longman told the court Mr Haddock admitted 'things had been stressful recently' and said he had started divorce proceedings against his wife'.
Dr Longman said she knew he held a firearms licence but said he had no mental health issues or suicidal ideation and was looking to the future.
EA area director Mark Rice told the inquest that Mr Haddock had admitted allowing waste to be deposited on his land for 'financial gain'.
He said the EA was not aware he was a firearms holder but said there was no perceived threat to their staff.
Mr Haddock, who was living in a holiday village in Paignton at the time of his death, was found with a shotgun wound to his head by his wife after she heard a 'loud bang' coming from his office at their busy farm shop at Churston near Brixham, Devon.
After the suicide conclusion, Mrs Haddock said his death was 'completely unnecessary' and hopes other lives will be saved in the future.
The inquest was told the weapons were handed back in 2022 but that police were unaware Haddock was being prosecuted by the Environment Agency over a long running investigation.
Police Inspector Mitch Wallace, a firearms licensing manager, said her department was never sent or never filed the information about the criminal proceedings.
She said: "If we had been made aware it may have impacted the decision to return the guns."
Devon and Cornwall Police were heavily criticised by an inquest jury following the Keyham shootings in Plymouth in August 2021 when 22 year old Jake Davison unlawfully killed five people before turning the weapon on himself.
That inquest ruled that those deaths were caused by Davison having a lawfully held shotgun which had previously been taken from him by police - but then returned - which was branded a serious failure to protect the deceased.
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Devon Area Coroner Alison Longhorn said there were 'missed opportunities' by the force's firearms licensing department to assess Haddock's suitability to have the guns which could have been kept away from him.
She said the police were 'completely ignorant of the fact' that the EA were prosecuting him even though the information had been shared by the agency but there was an 'absence of more robust processes' by Devon and Cornwall police to see it and act on it.
"Whatever the reason, the Firearms Licensing Department (FLD) were not aware of the prosecution," she said.
"I find it likely that had the FLD been in possession of all the facts a week before his death, it is likely a review of his case would have taken place and the guns seized."
She is now writing a Prevention of Future Deaths report to the force because 'that risk remains'.
