Formula 1 boss Max Mosley “shot himself” after hearing he had terminal cancer, a court heard. The 81-year-old was found dead with “significant injuries consistent with a gunshot wound” at his London home in May last year.
Westminster Coroner’s Court heard Mosley was receiving palliative care for lymphoma, which he was diagnosed with in 2019, at the time of his death. On May 24, a note was found nailed to Mosley’s bedroom door reading: “Do not enter, call the police”.
Police were called and officers found Mosley on his bed with a gun. The coroner said: “It was obvious he had used the shotgun to himself and endured a life-ending injury. It’s clear he had injuries not compatible with life. There was significant blood spatter.”
Dr Rasha Al-Quarainy, a consultant in palliative care from the Central and North West London NHS Trust, told the coroner Mosley was referred to her in April last year. Mosley was said to have had a “poor prognosis” as the B-cell Lymphoma was “inoperable”.
She said: “He was very talkative and engaging. We were there for about 45 minutes. He was very engaged and talked through quite a lot of things.”
Asked by senior coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox if he mentioned any suicidal thoughts, Dr Al-Quarainy said: “No, none at all. On the contrary he said that he had plans to renovate their home in Gloucestershire that wasn't going to be finished until July. He was still seeking treatment possibly in the US, possibly in the UK, and some other matters he spoke to me about."
She said she last spoke to him on May 4, before he was due to undergo a procedure at the Princess Grace, a private hospital in Marylebone. “The only thing of note was that he started on an antidepressant after our involvement with him, later in May, but I couldn’t comment on the indication for that or any of the aspects around that”, the doctor added.
Dr Christopher McNamara, a consultant haematologist, had been treating Mosley for the lymphoma since October 2019. In a statement, he told the court there had been a “shift” in April last year from treating the cancer aggressively to treating it to improve Mosley’s “quality of life”.
Dr McNamara said Mosley had pursued some treatments “against his medical advice”. On May 20, Dr McNamara said he told Mosley he had developed a “fistula”, an opening between areas of the body that are not usually connected.
Dr McNamara said: “He emailed me on 22 May 2021, these were questions about the management of the condition. He had accepted this would not be cured. He was extremely upset as his quality of life was poor and left him uncomfortable.
"He had expressed ideas of committing suicide to myself and other members of the team previously. He never expressed a plan of doing this and all he said was that the problem was his wife would not accept this.”
Mosley told Dr McNamara he had settled his affairs having heard he would now be on palliative care. Detective Constable Ben Benlounes told the court there were no signs of forced entry to Mosley’s Kensington home. He said: “On the chest of drawers there was a suicide note covered in blood.”
The inquest continues.
