The dad of a man stabbed to death by road-rage gangster Kenneth Noye killed himself just hours after his dog died, an inquest has found.
Kenneth Cameron, 75, grief-stricken by the murder of Stephen, 21, and the death of wife Toni, 73, downed paracetamol and whisky.
The overdose was triggered by the death of his dog. Mr Cameron’s brother, Gary, had spoken to him on the night the pet died.
But 24 hours later Gary found Mr Cameron, who lived alone, on the floor of his retirement home flat. He died on March 15 in hospital in Ashford, Kent.
A coroner said Mr Cameron had been racked with depression since the 2016 death of retired nurse Toni.
He was also haunted by the 2019 release of Noye, 75, 19 years into a life sentence for murdering Stephen on a M25 sliproad in Swanley, Kent.
Recording a verdict of suicide, coroner Katrina Hepburn said: “Mr Cameron’s mental health had been deteriorating since the death of his wife. He had been particularly hit by the death of his dog. When his brother went to see him he was found unconscious in his flat.”
Mr Cameron suffered a “cardiac shock” and had been diagnosed with heart disease, asthma and prostate cancer, the inquest heard.
He had a heart attack in 2017 and said he was “upset that he had survived” it.
In a statement to the inquest, consultant Dr Debkuma Pandit said he gathered Mr Cameron’s family together as his condition worsened.
Dr Pandit said: “His family mentioned that he was depressed for many years and that the death of his dog was the trigger for his suicide attempt.” Toni died in 2016 after catching her arm on a bush in the garden and contracting a superbug. Her ashes were interred at Stephen’s grave.
Ken said: “They were so close in life that it seemed right to put them together in death.”
The couple had campaigned to keep their son’s killer behind bars.
Noye became Britain’s most wanted man when he went on the run after the 1996 murder.
Get all the latest news sent to your inbox. Sign up for the free Mirror newsletter
It sparked an international manhunt and he was arrested two years later when Stephen’s fiancee, Danielle Cable, helped identify Noye in a Spanish restaurant.
In 2020 he was seen at the spot where he stabbed Stephen.
Mr Cameron said: “It’s like Noye’s walking on Stephen’s grave. I feel sickened he has gone back to the place where he took my son’s life.”
Noye previously served a 14-year sentence for handling gold bullion from the £26.3million Brink’s-Mat robbery in 1983.
Danielle, who was just 17 at the time of the murder, is still under the witness protection scheme.
The Samaritans is available 24/7 if you need to talk. You can contact them for free by calling 116 123, email jo@ samaritans .org or head to the website to find your nearest branch. You matter.
