'Caring' man, 21, fell from viaduct despite desperate attempts of police officers, inquest hears

A ‘well-mannered’ and ‘caring’ young man died after falling from a bridge, despite desperate attempts by police to save him. During an inquest into Elliot Warner’s death, a coroner commended the actions of the police officer who tried to help the 21-year-old.

Elliot’s dad Dean Warner told Rochdale Coroner’s Court that his son grew up in Milnrow and went to Moorhouse Primary School and Hollingwood Academy - where he showed a keen interest in IT. After leaving school, he got an apprenticeship at Hanson Springs and worked there until his death.

Around the age of 15 or 16, Elliot started to show signs of anxiety, and in 2019 he was referred to mental health services with a diagnosis of anxiety and depression. Dr Anthonia Olayinka, of Pennine Care NHS Trust, told the inquest that Elliot had “good insight” into his mental health and only had “fleeting thoughts” of suicide, so he was eventually referred back to his GP.

READ MORE : Young woman who blogged about mental health battle dies in 'serious incident' at Cheadle Royal

Elliot started to take Xanax - a benzodiazepine that he bought from the internet - which he told his parents he did to make him feel “numb” because he wasn’t enjoying life. He also took cocaine and smoked cannabis.

In August 2020, he was detained under section 2 of the Mental Health Act at Birch Hill Hospital’s John Elliott Unit and during his stay, a psychiatrist diagnosed him with ‘mental and behavioural disorder due to polysubstance misuse’. Following his discharge, he was only seen once by the home treatment team.

Elliot was admitted to Royal Oldham Hospital in November 2020 after police found him at Rakewood Viaduct. Upon admission, he told mental health workers that it had been “impulsive” to