Billionaire steel magnate's son jumped to his death, believing he was to blame for collapse of family business, inquest hears
Angad Paul, 45, suffered catastrophic injuries after plummeting from the eight storey property in central London, as his children played in their bedroom, an inquest heard.
He believed he was to blame for the downfall of his family business, Caparo, which was enduring large-scale job cuts as administrators tried to salvage the firm.
Some 450 redundancies were announced at the company in October 2015 amid the collapse in steel prices, one month before he died.
Mr Paul was the son of Lord Paul, who founded the business in 1968 with a £5,000 loan and helped it grow into a multibillion-pound enterprise. He had run the Caparo Industries subsidiary since taking over from his father in 1996.
Denis Krupnov, who worked at Caparo Group, told Westminster Coroner's Court that "although [Mr Angad] was CEO of the company, he had no real control of the company affairs".
Mr Krupnov added that Lord Paul - who attended the inquest - "took all the decisions" and that he felt "absolutely powerless" to stop the business going into administration
Mr Paul became very depressed when the company was put into administration, and, although he believed it was the "wrong decision", there was nothing he could do, the court heard.
Mr Angad was concerned about how he was going to pay the mortgage, and believed people would think he was responsible for the failure of the company.
Mr Paul's wife, Michelle Paul, told the inquest that her "best friend", had a history of depression but that he had never expressed any suicidal thoughts to her.
She said that in the months before his death Mr Paul had expressed his wish to come off anti-depressant medication, something that he had been taking since 1999.
From the beginning of 2015, he tried to wean himself off medication and looked into more holistic approaches to treating his depression, including travelling to the Amazon to stay with a tribe in the rainforest in September last year.
However the trip was not what he hoped and when he arrived back to the UK his wife said he looked like a "crumpled" man and became "disengaged".
Mrs Paul said: "He said the trip was not good. The tribe he loved and stayed with before had become commercialised, and were losing their identity."
Referring to his return to London, she said: "He came out looking scruffy and crumpled, and not like him. And he was very distracted and for the first time since I was 17, he let me carry a bag.
"He said 'Mich, it has all gone wrong, what are we going to do?'
"He was the happiest person I ever knew. I had no idea that he had suicidal thoughts."
She added: "He was catastrophising the company, he said 'I can't provide for you'."
The court heard that Mr Paul sold all four of his sports cars and insisted on wearing the same creased shirt. He also began wearing his cheapest watch, saying he did not "deserve nice things" when so many of his workers were going to lose their jobs.
His situation worsened and he admitted himself to the Capio Nightingale hospital - where he continued to work on his business - on October 4. He left 12 days later after it was not considered he was at active risk of suicide.
He returned to work, but was "devastated" when a news story broke about there being a loss of hundreds of jobs at the company.
On November 8, Mr Paul told his wife he wanted to be alone, and she told him that was not going to happen.
Lord Paul - who lived in the same building - called to say that he would shortly be coming upstairs to see his son.
Later that morning Mrs Paul left the flat in Portland Place, central London, to get a cup of coffee, leaving her husband at home with their two children.
When she returned, and Lord Paul arrived, neither of them could find Mr Paul.
"I had assumed that he was in the bedroom. I was in my office," she said. "We couldn't find him, but then we did find him."
Mrs Paul later noticed the kitchen door to the balcony of their penthouse apartment was open, and when she looked over the edge she saw him lying on the first-floor flat roof.
She told the court that the way she explained it to their children was that their father had suffered a "heart attack to the brain".
Referring to the time of his death she said: "He just wasn't that person anymore. He was the happiest chap I knew when he was on medication an when he was off it."
Giving her conclusion coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said in the months before his death there "had been a massive detrition of his mental state" and he was "very ill".
She said: "He felt bad about people who were going to lose their job and felt he had been a bad boss and he could not be reasoned with. He jumped from the balcony of his home address. He had been suffering from severe agitated depression.
"And it is clear he killed himself while the balance of his mind was disturbed."
She said: "I shall record that Angad Paul has died as a result of severe head injuries, and on November 8 2015 he jumped from the balcony of his home address. He had been suffering from severe agitated depression."
jumped to his death from the balcony of his luxury penthouse apartment after becoming overcome with depression following the collapse of the family business.
Angad Paul, 45, suffered catastrophic injuries after plummeting from the eight storey property in central London, as his children played in their bedroom, an inquest heard.
He believed he was to blame for the downfall of his family business, Caparo, which was enduring large-scale job cuts as administrators tried to salvage the firm.
Some 450 redundancies were announced at the company in October 2015 amid the collapse in steel prices, one month before he died.
Mr Paul was the son of Lord Paul, who founded the business in 1968 with a £5,000 loan and helped it grow into a multibillion-pound enterprise. He had run the Caparo Industries subsidiary since taking over from his father in 1996.
Denis Krupnov, who worked at Caparo Group, told Westminster Coroner's Court that "although [Mr Angad] was CEO of the company, he had no real control of the company affairs".
Mr Krupnov added that Lord Paul - who attended the inquest - "took all the decisions" and that he felt "absolutely powerless" to stop the business going into administration
Mr Paul became very depressed when the company was put into administration, and, although he believed it was the "wrong decision", there was nothing he could do, the court heard.
Mr Angad was concerned about how he was going to pay the mortgage, and believed people would think he was responsible for the failure of the company.
Mr Paul's wife, Michelle Paul, told the inquest that her "best friend", had a history of depression but that he had never expressed any suicidal thoughts to her.
She said that in the months before his death Mr Paul had expressed his wish to come off anti-depressant medication, something that he had been taking since 1999.
From the beginning of 2015, he tried to wean himself off medication and looked into more holistic approaches to treating his depression, including travelling to the Amazon to stay with a tribe in the rainforest in September last year.
However the trip was not what he hoped and when he arrived back to the UK his wife said he looked like a "crumpled" man and became "disengaged".
Mrs Paul said: "He said the trip was not good. The tribe he loved and stayed with before had become commercialised, and were losing their identity."
Referring to his return to London, she said: "He came out looking scruffy and crumpled, and not like him. And he was very distracted and for the first time since I was 17, he let me carry a bag.
"He said 'Mich, it has all gone wrong, what are we going to do?'
"He was the happiest person I ever knew. I had no idea that he had suicidal thoughts."
She added: "He was catastrophising the company, he said 'I can't provide for you'."
The court heard that Mr Paul sold all four of his sports cars and insisted on wearing the same creased shirt. He also began wearing his cheapest watch, saying he did not "deserve nice things" when so many of his workers were going to lose their jobs.
His situation worsened and he admitted himself to the Capio Nightingale hospital - where he continued to work on his business - on October 4. He left 12 days later after it was not considered he was at active risk of suicide.
He returned to work, but was "devastated" when a news story broke about there being a loss of hundreds of jobs at the company.
On November 8, Mr Paul told his wife he wanted to be alone, and she told him that was not going to happen.
Lord Paul - who lived in the same building - called to say that he would shortly be coming upstairs to see his son.
Later that morning Mrs Paul left the flat in Portland Place, central London, to get a cup of coffee, leaving her husband at home with their two children.
When she returned, and Lord Paul arrived, neither of them could find Mr Paul.
"I had assumed that he was in the bedroom. I was in my office," she said. "We couldn't find him, but then we did find him."
Mrs Paul later noticed the kitchen door to the balcony of their penthouse apartment was open, and when she looked over the edge she saw him lying on the first-floor flat roof.
She told the court that the way she explained it to their children was that their father had suffered a "heart attack to the brain".
Referring to the time of his death she said: "He just wasn't that person anymore. He was the happiest chap I knew when he was on medication an when he was off it."
Giving her conclusion coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said in the months before his death there "had been a massive detrition of his mental state" and he was "very ill".
She said: "He felt bad about people who were going to lose their job and felt he had been a bad boss and he could not be reasoned with. He jumped from the balcony of his home address. He had been suffering from severe agitated depression.
"And it is clear he killed himself while the balance of his mind was disturbed."
She said: "I shall record that Angad Paul has died as a result of severe head injuries, and on November 8 2015 he jumped from the balcony of his home address. He had been suffering from severe agitated depression
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