A FORMER Weakest Link winner threw himself off cliffs at Whitby after becoming depressed about having HIV, an inquest has heard.
Kevin Goodinson (35) who scooped more than £2,000 in the BBC quiz in 2005, had been admitted to hospital over his depression and had also taken an overdose weeks before his death.
The vice-principal of Doncaster College then went AWOL from his hom
e in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, but phoned his worried family and partner from a service station hotel, reassuring them he was safe.
But a day later he failed to meet up with his sister as arranged, and police found his body at the bottom of 100ft cliffs in Whitby.
His car was parked above the spot where he was found on 20 June.
At an inquest in Scarborough on Tuesday, Coroner Michael Oakley read a statement from Kevin’s devastated sister Janet.
It revealed Kevin had been diagnosed as HIV positive, and had also suffered a serious bout of pneumonia months before his death.
As well as this he had contracted an infection after a nose operation.
It read: “Kevin was depressed and took an overdose of Temazepam in May and spent two weeks in hospital.
“He was severely depressed and kept saying there was no way out, things were never going to get better.
“He constantly needed reassurances and when he left hospital he did seem to get better.”
But on 19 June Kevin disappeared and worried Janet called the police before her troubled brother called to tell her he was staying in a hotel at Woodhall Services, Rotherham.
The statement said: “He sounded calm and said he was at a hotel.
“He agreed to meet me the next day but when he failed to turn up we called the police again.”
Police investigating Kevin’s death discovered he had headed to the coast and clambered over a fence to reach the edge of cliffs.
They also found notes in his hotel room.
Recording a verdict of suicide, Mr Oakley said: “Kevin was certainly suffering from depression and was clearly concerned about the condition from which he suffered and whether he would make a recovery from it.
“He had previously taken an overdose and was behaving in a strange manner.
“His car was located near the cliffs and it had to be a deliberate act to get over the large fence over the spot he was found.”
Kevin was hugely popular among college colleagues and had been tipped as a future principal.
Former principal George Holmes, who hired him, said: “Kevin was a pleasure to work with, a bright, funny, articulate individual with a speed of mind and a grasp of issues which in my experience is seldom found.
“Kevin had the capacity, in my view, to achieve the very highest professional ambitions.
“He was, had he chosen to be, a principal in the making.
“His loss is a tragedy, the world will be a poorer place for his passing, but was a rich place to be when he was around.
“His ability to laugh at himself, and along with others, will be an enduring memory for me.”
