- Mark Nicholls had been struggling with depression and vanished from his home
- He left a suicide note to his wife Catherine saying he was 'going to the weir'
- Body was found by two canoeists nine miles down river from the weir
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An ex-RBS City banker who took his own life in the River Thames just one month after retiring had 'dreaded' giving up work, an inquest has heard.
Mark Nicholls, who retired as chairman of investment firm Rathbones in March 2020, left a suicide note for his wife Catherine on February 24 in which he said he was going to 'the weir' on the River Thames near their home in Little Wittenham.
One month later his body was found by two canoeists nine miles down the river at Cleeve Lock, near Goring.
Mrs Nicholls, 71, made a statement nine days after reporting her husband missing in which she said he 'dreaded his retirement and was questioning what he was going to do with his time'.
Her husband had been admitted as an inpatient to the Nightingale Hospital - a private mental health facility in London, on April 11, 2021, an inquest into his death was told today.
He was admitted to the same hospital in 1995 after saying he wanted to end his life.
Senior Oxfordshire coroner Darren Salter reached a conclusion of suicide after hearing how the top banker had been in and out of private hospital for treatment to his mental health issues.
He was initially agitated following his admission last spring, consultant psychiatrist Dr Sean Cross said.
Summarising the doctor's statement, Mr Salter said: 'Towards the end of his period of admission, there is a reference to Mr Nicholls [being] open to the fact he has had a very difficult time and a mental health disorder episode similar to the one he experienced in 1995/96.
'He is open to the fact this is the way anxiety and depression manifests in him.'
[...]
Mrs Nicholls said in her statement that, prior to his disappearance, her husband had stopped taking his psychiatric medication.
She said: 'He doesn't believe in them anymore.'
The last time she saw him was at 10.30pm on Wednesday, February 23, when he said he was going to bed. The following morning Mrs Nicholls was walking their dog on Wittenham Clumps. As she returned to the house at around 8am, she saw the light in his study was on and assumed he was using the room.
He was not in the study but had left a hand-written note in an A4 notebook on the desk.
Ms Nicholls said: 'I knew straightaway what this letter was.' She thought he had written it with the intention of taking his own life and called 999 immediately. His keys, mobile phone and bank cards had been left in the house.
Police were called to Cleeve Lock on March 24 - exactly a month later - by off-duty lockkeeper Stephen Lambley. A man had knocked at his back door shortly after 11.30am, telling him there was what appeared to be a body in the river.
An investigation by Thames Valley Police confirmed there was no evidence of third party involvement or suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.
The widow of Mark Nicholls told the inquest how her husband had been struggling with depression and vanished from the family home a month before his body was found in Oxfordshire.
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