Police broke into Leon Jenkins’ home in Cardiff after being alerted by Paltalk users

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A man living in Wales livestreamed his own suicide around the world after spending time in a virtual “insult chatroom”, an inquest has heard.

Police broke into the bedsit in Cardiff where Leon Jenkins was living after they were alerted to his actions by an administrator from the video group chat service Paltalk and users of the chatroom.

Jenkins’s webcam was still operating and officers heard observers asking each other whether what they had seen was real or faked.

The assistant coroner, Rachel Knight, said on Tuesday there was no evidence that Jenkins, a 43-year-old builder, was goaded into taking his own life on 26 July this year.

Jenkins’ father, Peter, 68, told the inquest he would hear his son “shouting and swearing” when using Paltalk.

“Leon would use Paltalk to occupy his time. He didn’t mention to me any concerns about it, but he would use it at my house. I knew it was an insult room. I would hear him swearing and shouting at the site.”

PC Phillip Coleman, of South Wales police, said when officers arrived at Jenkins’ home they heard users discussing what he had done.

“They heard voices speaking to each other, saying: ‘Is that real? ... It does look real.’” Coleman said the speakers may have been American or Canadian. The webcam was disabled and police began CPR but Jenkins could not be saved.

Police investigated claims that the father of three was goaded into killing himself, but Knight said there was no evidence to confirm this.

“Despite police efforts to trace participants of Paltalk, I have no evidence to say that he was taunted or encouraged. Inquiries were made in Canada, America and Australia, but witnesses were not forthcoming.”

Knight, who concluded that Jenkins killed himself, said there had been three similar deaths in the UK involving the Paltalk site.

The inquest was told Jenkins had lived alone in the bedsit for the last 18 years. Neighbours had reported him to Cardiff city council over the noise and bad language coming from his flat.

The hearing in Pontypridd heard Jenkins had a history of mental health problems and had been diagnosed as bipolar. A postmortem examination found he was almost three times the legal drink-drive limit at the time of his death.

• In the UK, the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international suicide helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.