By Calvin Palmer

A man committed suicide by rigging up a chainsaw to sever his head because he was “irrationally opposed” to leaving his repossessed home, an inquest heard today.



David Phyall, 50, tied the Black & Decker power tool to a leg of a snooker table in his living room with string, taped up the on button and plugged it into a timer, Winchester Coroner’s Court heard.



Phyall, who had consumed a small quantity of alcohol but no drugs, then lay down under the snooker table face up and placed the chainsaw against his neck, with a piece of the tool’s cardboard box cushioning the blade from his neck.



The timer, usually used to turn lights off and on, was set to start up the chainsaw for 15 minutes.



Once activated, it sliced three-quarters through his neck and across into his right shoulder only stopping from completely severing his head when his T-shirt was dragged into the teeth of the saw.



The alarm was raised by his parents John and Jean Phyall when they could not contact their son at his ground floor housing association flat in Bishopstoke, Hampshire, on July 5 this year.



Police broke into the flat and asked the parents to stay outside.



Sgt. Mark Carter of Hampshire police said he found Phyall in the living room with blood splattering the walls, floor and a cabinet.



“The electric chainsaw was embedded in his neck,” he told the hearing. “The blade was approximately three-quarters through his neck.”



The block in Bodmin Road, where Phyall had his flat, was due to be demolished. Despite efforts from the housing association, he had refused 11 offers of alternative accommodation. Eventually, the housing association went to court to repossess the property.



At the time of his death, Phyall was only the tenant in the 1960s block. The rest of the properties had been vacated and were boarded up.



Phyall had a history of mental illness and had tried to commit suicide once before.



Recording a verdict of suicide, Central Hampshire deputy coroner Simon Burge said that First Wessex Housing Group had done all it could but Phyall was “irrationally opposed to moving.”



“In the 15 years I have been sitting as a deputy coroner, this is the most bizarre case I can recall,” Burge said.

“He thought through how he was going to commit suicide very carefully. He went to a great deal of trouble. I think he did it to draw attention to the injustice of his situation.”



[Based on reports by The Independent and BBC News.]