Police reveal that John Macharia jumped to his death from the seventh floor of a building he was in after learning that the Red Devils had succumbed to Newcastle

A man believed to be a fan of Manchester United committed suicide on Saturday night in Nairobi’s Pipeline Estate after the Red Devils lost 1-0 to Newcastle in English Premier League action.

Local police said that John Jimmy Macharia, aged 23, jumped to his death from the seventh floor of a building after finding out that his team had lost in the Saturday evening EPL match. According to Nairobi County police chief Benson Kibue, Macharia told his friends that he could not stand to watch the team beaten twice in a row, before he leapt down and died upon impact.

“All witness accounts suggest he committed suicide because the team lost, but officers are still talking to those who were with him as part of the investigations into the incident,” Kibue told Standard Online.

Kibue advised the youth in the city to realise that the English Premier League is just a game and they should not allow the competition to make them emotional to the point of doing something drastic. “It is not the first time we are losing a young man because of the football in England, which is far away from us. They need to know that it is just a game,” said Kibue.

The body was taken to the mortuary by police who arrived on the scene. Manchester United slumped to their second home Premier League defeat in the space of four days as Yohan Cabaye's goal gave Newcastle a first league victory at Old Trafford since 1972.