Caparo tragedy: Lord Paul's son killed himself after being overcome with depression following collapse of his Oldbury steel firm
The boss of Oldbury-based Caparo Industries, Angad Paul, jumped to his death from the balcony of his penthouse apartment after becoming overcome with depression following the collapse of his business, his inquest heard today.
Angad Paul, 45, killed himself as his children played in their bedroom, believing he was to blame for the downfall of his family business, the hearing was told.
The businessman's steel company, Caparo, had been enduring large-scale job cuts as administrators tried to salvage the firm.
Some 450 redundancies were announced at the company in October 2015 amid the collapse in steel prices, one month before he died.
Mr Paul was the son of Lord Paul, who founded the business in 1968 with a £5,000 loan and helped it grow into a multibillion-pound enterprise. Lord Paul is also Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton.
Angad Paul had run the Caparo Industries subsidiary since taking over from his father in 1996.
Westminster Coroner's Court heard that Angad Paul told colleague Denis Krupnov that "although he was CEO of the company, he had no real control of the company affairs".
He added that his father - who attended the inquest - "took all the decisions".
Caparo Industries collapsed with £160 million of debt in October, leading to the loss of around 500 jobs from its factories in the Black Country including Caparo Atlas Fastenings in Darlaston, Caparo Precision Tubes at Oldbury and Caparo Forging Europe in Dudley.
A rescue bid from Liberty House, owned by the Gupta family, saved 950 jobs as it bought Caparo's tubing, engineering and strip businesses in Bilston, West Bromwich, Oldbury, Willenhall, Wednesbury, Cradley Heath and Dudley.
Angad Paul's father, Lord Paul of Marylebone, has been chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton since 1999 and earlier this year its £18 million new business school was formally named the Lord Swraj Paul Building. Now 85, he is chairman of the remaining Caparo Group of companies.
He founded his business in the UK after moving from India in 1966 to secure medical treatment for his daughter, Ambika, who died of leukaemia a short time later.
Mr Paul became very depressed when the company was put into administration, and, although he believed it was the "wrong decision", there was nothing he could do, the court heard.
He was concerned about how he was going to pay the mortgage, and, feeling "absolutely powerless", believed people would think he was responsible for the failure of the company.
Mr Paul's wife, Michelle Paul, told the inquest that her "best friend", had a history of depression but that he had never expressed any suicidal thoughts to her.
She said that in the months before his death Mr Paul had expressed his wish to come off anti-depressant medication, something that he had been taking since 1999.
He looked into more holistic approaches to tackle his condition and even attended a retreat in the Amazon in September last year.
Mrs Paul said: "He said the trip was not good. The tribe he loved and stayed with before had become commercialised, and were losing their identity."
Referring to his return to London, she said: "He came out looking scruffy and crumpled, and not like him. And he was very distracted and for the first time since I was 17, he let me carry a bag.
"He said 'Mich, it has all gone wrong, what are we going to do?'
"He was the happiest person I ever knew. I had no idea that he had suicidal thoughts."
She added: "He was catastrophising the company, he said 'I can't provide for you'."
The court heard that Mr Paul sold all four of his sports cars and began wearing his cheapest watch, saying he did not "deserve nice things" when so many of his workers were going to lose their jobs.
He admitted himself to the Capio Nightingale hospital - where he continued to work on his business - on October 4, and left 12 days later after it was not considered he was at active risk of suicide.
He returned to work, but was "devastated" when a news story broke about there being a loss of hundreds of jobs at the company.
On November 8, Mr Paul told his wife he wanted to be alone, and she told him that was not going to happen.
Lord Paul - who lived in the same building - called to say that he would shortly be coming upstairs to see his son.
Later that morning Mrs Paul left the flat in Portland Place, central London, to get a cup of coffee, leaving her husband at home with their two children.
When she returned, and Lord Paul arrived, neither of them could find Mr Paul.
"I had assumed that he was in the bedroom. I was in my office," she said.
Mrs Paul later noticed the kitchen door to the balcony of their penthouse apartment was open, and when she looked over the edge she saw him lying on the first-floor flat roof.
She told the court that the way she explained it to their children was that their father had suffered a "heart attack to the brain".
Assitant Coroner Shirley Radcliffe ruled that Mr Paul killed himself while "the balance of his mind was disturbed".
She said: "I shall record that Angad Paul has died as a result of severe head injuries, and on November 8 2015 he jumped from the balcony of his home address. He had been suffering from severe agitated depression."
