VERDICT OF INSANITY

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22005, 1 February 1937, Page 5

VERDICT OF INSANITY

AUSTRALIAN DOCTOR'S SUICIDE (Received January 31/7.5 p.m» LONDON, January 30. "I believe he had-a sudden brain--jtorm," said the coroner, when returning a verdict of insanity in the case of the Australian, ;Dr. Percival John George Payne* aged 42, who suicide in a boardinghouse in Leicester. •='"' A friend, Dr. Charles Wilkie, gave evidence that Payne had sold a large practice in Leicester and had gone to Australia. He was disappointed with the prospects there and returned to England. He failed to secure practices in Gloucester and Leicester where he arrived on December 241 He became depressed, saying that life was not worth living. A mental specialist advised Payne to enter a ■ home and undergo nerve treatment;'-.but Payne and Mrs Payne told witness they did not wish to act on the advice as they feared Payne might be certified as insane. * The boarding-house proprietor said in, evidence, that he found Payne and. his wife struggling. They calmed Payne and summoned Wilkie, who was-attempting to administer a sedative when. Payne snatched a razor from a trunk and slashed his throat twice, in spite of Wilkie •truggliiig to obtain the razor.