Padstow Ex-Priest's 'Anxious' Final Days about Savile Enquiry and Hernia Operation

This Is Cornwall
August 7, 2013

http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Padstow-ex-priest-s-anxious-final-days-Savile/story-19625040-detail/story.html#axzz2bHrrkW2B

The Rev. Barry Kinsmen.

'ANXIOUS AND DEPRESSED': The Reverend Barry Kinsmen.

A RETIRED priest found dead in the sea off Padstow was anxious and depressed in the months leading up to his death, and was concerned that the Jimmy Savile police inquiry was spreading to Cornwall.

The Reverend Barry Kinsmen left a suicide note at his home in the town. Two friends found it after becoming concerned when he failed to turn up for a lunch together.

Mr Kinsmen, known locally as "Mr Padstow'', disappeared on New Year's Eve after his Ford Ka was found abandoned near Trevone, an inquest in Truro heard yesterday.

Extensive searches were undertaken but his body was not found until January 16 when it was recovered by Padstow's inshore lifeboat crew at the Butter Hole, a cove not far from Stepper Point.

Giving evidence to the Cornwall Coroner, Dr Emma Carlyon, the Reverend Canon Christopher Malkinson, one of the two friends who found the suicide note, said Mr Kinsmen had been depressed and anxious in the months leading up to his death, and no longer wanted to preach or deliver eulogies in church.

"Barry was very concerned about the amount of coverage the Jimmy Savile enquiry was getting, especially the fact the enquiry was spreading to Cornwall," Mr Malkinson said in a statement.

He said the 72 year-old was also worried about an upcoming hernia operation.

Part of Mr Kinsmen's suicide note read: "By the time this note is found, the sea would have claimed me, so there is no need for a search."

Mr Kinsmen wrote that he felt he had let his friends and family down. The note also contained details of the type of funeral he wanted and for someone to cancel the operation.

In a statement, his friend Muriel Frost said the retired priest had suffered a nervous breakdown when he was the vicar at St Issey, some 17 years ago, and received psychiatric treatment at the former St Lawrence's Hospital in Bodmin. He retired as the parish vicar shortly after.

She said her good friend was a "terrible worrier'' and was concerned about his impending hernia operation.

Dr Carlyon said the inquest was unable to ascertain how Mr Kinsmen had died, but from the evidence, on the balance of probability, he had taken his own life.

But because she could not be sure that was the case, Dr Carlyon recorded an open verdict.

Mr Kinsmen, 72, was a past mayor of the town and an authority on its history and ancient customs.

A former head teacher of St Issey Primary School, he was also a Cornish bard and a member of the county executive of the Old Cornwall Society.

Mr Kinsmen also helped set up Padstow Museum and wrote regularly for the Padstow Echo magazine.