Young gay artist found dead in Swansea park suffered years of homophobic bullying, inquest hears
The inquest into William Green’s death was held at Swansea’s Guildhall. (Geography Photos/Universal Images Group via Getty)
Young gay artist who was found dead in a Swansea park had suffered years of homophobic bullying at school, an inquest has heard.
Green, 26, was found dead in Swansea’s Singleton Park by police officers in December last year.
An inquest into his death heard that Green had found life “very difficult” following years of homophobic bullying at secondary school, but had not confided in his family about it until he was at Cardiff Metropolitan University studying fine art.
According to WalesOnline, Green was described at the inquest as being “supportive” of his friends and having a “caring nature”, but found it difficult to accept his sexuality.
Green had moved back home to Swansea from Cardiff to be with his family after his “volatile” relationship with his former partner Ashley Kelleway ended in 2020.
He took the break up hard, and despite suffering from panic attacks, was trying to wean himself off medication.
On 10 December, Green and Kelleway had an argument, the inquest heard, and a friend reported that Green seemed “very down and depressed” afterwards.
Two days later, Green told Kelleway that he intended to take his own life, and although his ex-partner alerted police, Green was found having died by suicide in Singleton Park that night.
In a eulogy read at Green’s funeral, his brother said: “Will was definitely a unique individual I think we can all agree on that.
“He was such a caring person and he would always be there for anyone in hard times… Following his degree he worked at Wagamama’s and progressed to front of house manager with responsibility for school children visits.
“As a result he enrolled to undertake a post graduate teaching certificate but unfortunately the dreaded COVID struck and all learning transferred to online.
“My brother found this extremely stressful and he subsequently withdrew from the course. It was during this time that he opened up about how he felt that he had to justify his sexuality and I can only imagine how hard he found this on a daily basis.
“Every friend accepted Will for who he was, but I don’t think Will accepted himself.”
Suicide is preventable. Readers who are affected by the issues raised in this story are encouraged to contact Samaritans on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org), or Mind on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk).
Readers in the US are encouraged to contact the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.
