Nick Spencer, The Vice President of British Petroleum hanged himself at his £2million home a week after he was dismissed from employment.
The 61 year old man, who was a father of two and newly married was found dead at his luxury home where he lived with his wife, Eve in Buckinghamshire in April.
Investigations revealed he spent a decade working for the oil giant BP when he was forced to leave the firm on March 31 this year. The news of his dismissal led to depression due to concerns about managing his finances.
Eve, the wife of Nick revealed in her statement: ‘Since he was made redundant, he had been depressed. He had been looking for a new job and I felt he seemed positive but there was an oil crisis because of Covid-19 and he was worried about remortgaging the house and the finances.
‘In the period leading up to his death, he seemed a bit more down and it was the 12th anniversary of a family bereavement.’
‘On the evening before his death, we watched the news and went to bed. We talked about TV and he came to bed at 2 am which was unusually late.’
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‘At 6.40am on April 7 he got up. He was normally an early riser and I went back to sleep. I later went into the study and saw the letters he had written. I opened the one addressed to me and called the police, I was very worried.’
The first police officer to arrive at the home in Beaconsfield, Bucks., discovered Mr Spencer hanged in the house’s garage. Eve identified the body as her husband at 10.30am.
Dr Steven Corrigan, a Pathologist confirmed the cause of death as hanging.
Mr Spencer was a graduate from Harvard Business School in 1999, and later became a general manager at European Refining, directing three refineries across Europe. Later on, he worked at ConocoPhillips for seven years, tasked with establishing the business in the MENA region.
He joined British Petroleum (BP) in October 2009 as a business unit leader working for the next five years at the largest refinery in the US. Following his huge success, he was selected as Vice President of Global Refining in November 2014 where he led 7,500 employees with a gross margin of $6 billion. He maintained this position until he was made redundant in March this year.
In a report, based on investigations, a psychiatrist confirmed seeing Mr Spencer on January 18 where he referenced his job loss,he stated he had had suicidal thoughts for a while and even had a specific plan in mind.
‘He spoke about the symptoms of his redundancy, building up regrets and thoughts of his children. He talked about the cost of pain caused by some of his actions.’
The psychiatrist added ‘I felt the protective element in terms of his family prevented him from actioning any thoughts of suicide. After the appointment in January, Mr Spencer refused to follow up and cancelled his arranged appointments.’