Coroner: TV star Speight hung himself

LONDON, May 20 (UPI) -- A London coroner has ruled that children's television presenter Mark Speight's death was suicide by hanging.

The body of the 42-year-old "SMart" star was discovered in a remote area of Paddington railway station last month, six days after he had gone missing.

Westminster Coroner Paul Knapman heard at the inquest that a suicide note was found in Speight's pocket at the time of his death. Pathologist Peter Wilkins said an autopsy found no drugs or alcohol in Speight's bloodstream, the BBC said.

Speight's fiancee, fellow children's television star Natasha Collins, was found dead in a scalding bath after a drug binge in the couple's apartment earlier this year. The cause of her death was ruled as misadventure.

"What a tragedy. Clearly he was so devastated by the loss of Natasha Collins that at this time he could not contemplate life without her," the BBC quoted Knapman as saying.

Speight's father Oliver said after the inquest: "The real people that we feel for are the children out there, the grief of thousands and thousands of children. In the eyes of children's TV he was an icon and we are extremely proud of that and we will not let him down."