Overdose student’s ‘dark’ tale on laptop

Published: 04 June 2010
by JOSIE HINTON

A CREATIVE writing student died after taking an accidental overdose of anxiety pills prescribed by his doctor in America, an inquest has heard.

Brett Siegel, 23, was studying at City University when he was found dead in the bathroom of his Old Street flat by police on February 26.

A post-mortem reveal­ed Mr Siegel died from an overdose of the antidepressant drug amitrip­tyline, which he had been prescribed by a doctor in Orange County, California, where he was originally from.

St Pancras Coroner’s Court was told on Tuesday that the student had been suffering from anxiety and sleeplessness for about four years, but seemed in good spirits in the days before he was found.

When police broke into Mr Siegel’s flat, they thought the death could be suspicious as he had a cut on his head and an upturned cabinet was found near his body. They also found a towel covered in blood.

But after searching the flat they discovered Mr Siegel’s laptop, which contained a “dark” piece of writing.

Detective Sergeant Abigail Salter told the inquest: “There was a document that was two pages long, which in my opinion looked like a suicide note. It was then I became less suspicious about third-party involve­­ment.”

But coroner Dr Andrew Reid ruled out suicide after it emerged that Mr Siegel had been set an assignment about the suicide of Alexander McQueen, in which he had been asked to write about how the fashion designer might have been feeling when he took his life.

Dr Reid said: “There were some documents on his computer which could be construed as suicide notes. 

“Mr Siegel was doing a creative writing course and it appears that a number of documents on a dark matter were related to his assignment as a creative writer.”

Mr Siegel’s best friend, Amy Parker, who reported him missing, told the inquest he seemed his usual self when she spoke to him three days earlier.

“He seemed fine,” she said. 

“He was really happy because he had just applied for a job that was really suitable for him. He had found it hard to get a job suited to his university schedule.” 

Recording a verdict of misadventure, Dr Reid said: “He has taken the drugs himself but has accidentally taken a slight overdose of amitriptyline pills, he has tripped, slipped or fallen and sustained a minor injury to his head and then collapsed again.”