Barry Hepburn inquest - property magnate died after ‘bizarre’ self-amputation

Published: 24 June 2011
by JOSH LOEB

A PROPERTY magnate who survived being shot three times but bled to death 10 years later while trying to amputate his leg told medical experts he believed the procedure would improve his life, an inquest heard.

Barrie Hepburn, 65, who lived off Park Road in Marylebone, died on August 26 last year after severing his right leg with a hacksaw.

He had carefully prepared for the amputation and left magazines to read in hospital in a bag by the front door. But he forgot to leave the door open and it had to be broken down by paramedics. 

The retired property consultant had become paralysed in his lower body after being shot in 2000 by a neighbour while holidaying in his cottage in France. 

Susan Hepburn told the inquest, which had been adjourned from March 15, that her late husband had regarded his legs as “a hindrance” as they prevented him from independently getting in and out of his car.

She said her husband had previously attempted suicide by taking an opium overdose and had viewed online videos of self-amputation.

The inquest heard that Mr Hepburn had told his GP he would prefer it if surgeons amputated his legs but was prepared to attempt it himself if necessary, doing “as good a job as he could” before calling an ambulance to take him to hospital, where surgeons would be forced to complete the work.

However, he had subsequently promised his wife that he would not attempt this.

At Westminster Coroner's Court on Wednesday, psychiatrist Dr Leena Reddy, who had held a consultation with Mr Hepburn at the request of his GP, described the case as “complex”.

She said Mr Hepburn, who had a previous diagnosis of personality disorder and a history of “impulsive behaviour”, had told her of his desire to have his legs removed and had said: “I’m not depressed. I enjoy life.”

She added: “In the 1950s at Stoke Mandeville Hospital a paper was written by a surgeon who seemed to advocate removing limbs from paraplegics who believed their limbs were useless. There was no other ­evidence that this procedure was available.”

Dr Reddy had assessed Mr Hepburn as having a low risk of ­suicide. 

Later that month Mr Hepburn attempted to amputate his leg while his wife was away visiting their son in America, but lost consciousness while he was on the phone calling for an ambulance.

Westminster deputy coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said she had been “impressed” by the medical attention paid to Mr Hepburn. She added: “This was a bizarre set of circumstances, a tragic set of circumstances, that a fit and physically active man has found himself to be paralysed as a result of an act of violence years before and has become wheelchair-bound. 

“He has displayed no signs at all of any desire to kill himself. He is perfectly sane and ­sensible and clearly has capacity to say that he views his legs as useless and that he wanted them removed. 

“One could perhaps see that there are very good and valid reasons for it but it has put doctors in a dilemma. Psychiatrists are used to patients self harming in an attempt to kill themselves or to attention seek. This is not the case whatsoever in this case. In a technical sense it’s harming himself to cut off his legs, but self harm has come to mean something different entirely.”  

The cause of death was recorded as blood loss with a verdict of death by misadventure. 

In a statement released by her solicitor Mark Bowman, Susan Hepburn said: “Barrie was an incredibly loving husband and father and his death has devastated our close-knit family. Our loss is immeasurable. We accept the coroner’s findings today and hope that the verdict will help us to begin to face the future without him. As you will appreciate we as a family are grieving beyond belief and would respect some privacy at this time.”