Motorbike champion Keith Farmer took his own life, inquest told

Keith Farmer was also struggling with the breakdown of the relationship with his long-term partner, who he shared two children with.

The 35-year-old, who lived in Greystoke, died at the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle on November 10 last year.

Originally from Northern Ireland, Mr Farmer was born the youngest sibling of four children to Alan and Barbara Farmer.

He lived in County Tyrone for the first four years of his life and the family then moved to Clogher.

Mr Farmer was part of a motorcycling family and got his first quad for Christmas when he was two and a half years old.

Cockermouth Coroner’s Court heard he later moved to England to further his motorcycling career. He was “very close” to his family in Northern Ireland.

His sister, Wendy Forsyth said he had spoken to her in 2021 about his relationship with his partner Sam, which had been “strained for some time”.

He told his sister he wanted to reconcile with his partner but if not, he would try to move on.

Ms Forsyth said her brother was “hard-working, conscientious and very competitive”. He didn’t realise what he had achieved, the inquest was told.

She said the family were “completely devastated” by what happened and their “lives would never be the same again”.

Mr Farmer’s partner, Sam Ritchie, said they had been together for eight years and had a happy relationship. They were “very close” and spent a lot of time together.

She said Keith had “high expectations” for himself and a “very sensitive personality”. He “took everything to heart” and “always doubted his worth”.

Ms Ritchie said they had “drifted apart” in their relationship and he had moved out of their home.

She said they still loved each other but agreed this was the best thing at the time. She was still “really close” to Mr Farmer and he was “very involved” with their children.

She said at time he was “struggling” with this situation and said he thought he had failed at life because they were no longer together.

Ms Ritchie said the retirement of his racing career had an impact on how he had been feeling. She said he felt “a little bit lost”.

On November 4, Mr Farmer looked after one of their children and “things weren’t particularly good” as they’d had a fallout eight days earlier.

Mr Farmer told her he wanted to talk about it but she didn’t want to. She told him “it wasn’t going to go anywhere”.

He then “stormed out” the house and said he “wouldn’t be here” in the morning.

Ms Ritchie realised he had taken her house keys and so she had messaged him. They exchanged messages and Keith told her to tell their children that he loved them.

The last message Ms Ritchie sent was at 9.15pm but this was never read. She received a phone call from Mr Farmer’s sister, Kathy who was concerned about him.

Ms Ritchie said she was later told by Mr Farmer’s sister that he had been found in the garage and was being given CPR.

He was taken to the Cumberland Infirmary where he was on life support for five days.

Ms Ritchie said: “Looking back now, I could never have seen this incident happening. He was a devoted father and I never thought there would be a possibility he would leave the kids.

“They were the centre of his life. I could never have foreseen him not wanting to be there for them in the future.”

Stuart Waugh, a friend of Mr Farmer, said he received a message from Mr Farmer’s brother, asking him to go round and check on him. They believed he was going to do something stupid.

Mr Waugh said he expected to find Mr Farmer drunk. He discovered him unresponsive in the garage and lifted him down.

Emergency services then arrived on the scene and a note was recovered by police.

A statement from the consultant responsible for Mr Farmer’s care at The Cumberland Infirmary said Mr Farmer was admitted to the intensive care unit for post-cardiac arrest care.

A CT scan done on November 7 showed features of severe brain damage. It was agreed to withdraw life support and Mr Farmer passed away on November 10.

A post-mortem report revealed he had no drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of his death.

The medical cause of death was given as a severe brain injury due to hanging.

In his concluding statement, assistant coroner Dr Nicholas Shaw, said: “This has been a very sad inquest to go through.

“Relationships often run into problems. I imagine you feel awful about it, Sam but you should try not to. Arguments happen with couples all the time.”

Dr Shaw highlighted two major factors – the difficulties Mr Farmer was having at home, trying to juggle his work and rebuild his relationship - and his retirement from his motorcycling career, which he “loved greatly” and had “built his life around”.

“The combination of these two things snapped that evening and led to the impulsive action.

“He left a note indicating that was his plan. He said goodbye and went and did that before taking time to consider what the consequences might be.”

Dr Shaw concluded that Mr Farmer died by suicide.

Turning to Ms Ritchie, Dr Shaw said: “I hope you will remember the good things that happened and the bad things will fade away gradually.”

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