Man 'went downhill' after dog put down - inquest

The hearing was told Mr Kay had struggled after having to have his dog put to sleep on the advice of a vet

A journalist and Hillsborough campaigner who died on a railway line had "gone downhill" after having to have his dog put to sleep, an inquest heard.

Dan Kay, 45, from Liverpool, had to put down the pet, which came from Bosnia via a rescue, because it was aggressive and had attacked some of his friends, the hearing was told.

Statements from friends of Mr Kay, who had worked at the Liverpool Echo newspaper, said Mr Kay had received an email from the woman from whom he had received the dog, in which she branded him a "murderer" for having it euthanised, on the advice of a vet, on 20 April.

Mr Kay was found dead on 7 May near Mossley Hill railway station in south Liverpool.

'Unbelievably excited'

Friend Linda Duncan told the hearing Mr Kay had been “unbelievably excited and over the moon at a having a dog for first the first time”.

The animal, for which he paid £500, had an eye problem, developed kennel cough and became increasingly aggressive. On one occasion Mr Kay had to lock himself in his bedroom to escape it.

After getting help from an animal behaviour expert and unsuccessful attempts to rehome the animal, Mr Kay was told by a vet that the only real option was to put the dog to sleep.

Ms Duncan said friends became concerned about Mr Kay’s appearance in the days after the dog was euthanised.

She told the hearing: "His appearance looked scruffy, he was going downhill and he didn’t look well."

Knife wound

Friend Steve Kelly went to Mr Kay's house in Pitville Avenue, Mossley Hill, on 1 May, but got no response and called police.

Mr Kelly said when he and officers went inside they saw "knives all over the place and blood everywhere".

He had a deep knife wound to his neck and other injuries to his body, and en route to hospital said "I don't want to live but I don’t want to die".

After he had been assigned a mental health worker, Mr Kay asked family and friends to give him some space.

On 7 May a member of the public reported seeing a body on the railway line close to Mossley Hill station.

Self-harm

In an emotional pen portrait, Mr Kay's first cousin Amos Waldman told how Mr Kay had twice attempted suicide in previous decades.

On the first occasion, shortly after his mother’s funeral, he was found in an Amsterdam hotel room with a substantial amount of drugs.

The second attempt came during a visit to family in Israel when he was hospitalised after harming himself with razors.

Sitting next to large photo of his cousin, an emotional Mr Waldman said: “I know I, and so many others, have been deeply rocked and devastated by Dan’s passing. Shock reverberated around the city and beyond.

"Dan was a wonderful person, one of the best, and has left a gaping hole in our lives."

Mr Kay, a huge Liverpool FC fan, had been largely brought up his grandparents in Wallasey.

He had worked with Hillsborough families and survivors and collaborated with the family of the late campaigner Anne Williams on a book about her life, which subsequently became an award-winning TV drama whose script Mr Kay worked on.