The police discovered Scott’s body on May 14th, 2018, following a report by Scott’s accountant Andrew Hill that he hadn’t had a response to emails or texts for over two weeks.
The body was turned over to the coroner on May 15th, so although the police estimated that he died on May 1st, the 15th is his official date of death.
On the morning of May 16th I received an email from Rose asking me to call her, which I did. She told me that the police had just called to tell her that Scott had died. They gave her no additional information. I passed this information along to Nigel, who was in Nigeria and had just gotten the news.
In the early morning of May 17th I received an email from Paul Melton, a Detective Sergeant from the police in Bristol, England, associated with the Avon and Somerset Constabulary. He was looking into what happened to Scott and asked if I could send him names and contact details for family. I responded with contact information for Scott’s sister Kelly Lafferty.
On the 18th Rose went to Bristol (about three hours east of St Davids) to meet with the police and then to Bath (another 45 minutes east) to pick up the dogs from the vet where the police left them. Since Rose doesn’t drive I assume her daughter or someone else drove. That is at least an eight hour round trip, plus time spent with the police and the vet.
I sent email to Roy Pegrum, who owns (and rents out) the two units to the west of Scott’s, telling him what I had heard, and asking if he knew anything else. He didn’t…the last time he saw Scott was close to the end of April, just before he left on a trip to the US. He had just returned from that trip.
I received email from Nigel stating that he was back in the UK and had spent most of the day with the police, who asked a lot of questions but would release no information.
Early on May 20th I received an email from Paul Melton stating that he was about to call Kelly to give her the news. I waited an hour or so and then called her. We talked for almost an hour.
The police told her that Scott was stabbed in the heart at the Bath house on May 1st, and discovered on May 14th. They haven’t yet decided if they think it was suicide or murder.
She will be talking to them again tonight. Neither of us believe that he would take his life that way, or that he would abandon the dogs. If he wanted to kill himself, he would have made provisions for them first. Kelly asked if I would be willing to go to the UK with her, if she has to do so, and of course I agreed.
The weeks following the news of Scott’s death were filled with a stream of emails and phone calls between those of us who knew Scott and between the police and us. Most conversations with the police were one-way…for obvious reasons they wanted any information we had, but weren’t too interested in sharing information with us.
Having been through nine deaths in my extended family in the previous two years, and helped with some of the clean-up and probate tasks, I had a pretty good idea of what was going to need to be done over the next year, so started researching that process in the UK.
The police had “sealed” Scott’s house on the 14th…by this I mean that they put crime scene tape over the doors. So we wouldn’t have access to the house until they finished the investigation.
We also wouldn’t have access to Scott’s body until the coroner released it…but I could start looking into how to deal with it. Kelly knew that Scott wanted to be cremated, and to have most of his ashes buried in the same grave where most of his dad’s ashes were…and some spread at sea off Westport, where Scott and I spread some of his dad’s ashes.
The American Embassy sent Kelly information about how to deal with the death of a relative in the UK. The instructions were complex and the estimated costs extremely high.
I found out from Alastair, the police detective handling Scott’s case, that Scott’s body was with the coroner in Bristol, so I did a search for crematoriums there. The cost varied a lot depending on what you wanted. I think the embassy estimate was based on the most complete process, with a viewing and chapel service before cremation. What we needed was what they called Direct Cremation. This includes picking up the body from the morgue, cremating it, and delivering the ashes and a certificate to someone nearby.
Google helped me find five companies in the Bristol area who provided this service. I visited their websites, sent email, and followed up with phone calls. I settled on one named Pure Cremations, mainly because their phone response was very good. They sent me the forms, which I filled in and returned, along with a PDF of my power of attorney from Kelly authorizing me to represent her in dealing with matters pertaining to Scott. We agreed that when the body was released by the coroner I would contact them, pay the fee, and let them know where to deliver the ashes (or cremains as they seem to be called).
I also looked into the probate process in the UK. This process in the US is complex. In the UK it is even more complex…but it is also much better documented. Basically, when a person dies intestate (without a will) the probate court needs to appoint an administrator. To do this someone has to apply to be the administrator. In a Catch-22 sort of situation, part of applying to be the administrator is to report the value of all the assets of the deceased person, and then pay the inheritance tax on that value. The catch is that until you are the administrator, many financial institutions won’t share that information with you. If you are curious about the process, you can read the steps here: https://www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inheritance.
Since Scott didn’t have a wife or children, his mother would be the default person to administer the probate process and inherit his estate. However she is in a care facility and not mentally competent to take on that responsibility. Next in line would be Kelly, but she isn’t familiar with the technical details of Scott’s work (it is possible to revive Scott’s company, Info Express, and continue to run it for the benefit of the family), and she didn’t want the responsibility.
Kelly and I talked to Scott’s accountant, Andrew Hill, about this and he recommended a solicitor who has an office across the street from him in Poole (southern England). We arranged a conference call to ask a few questions, and then agreed to consider appointing him as our probate attorney.
In the meantime, I agreed to go to the UK when access to the house was allowed and Scott’s body could be released.
On July 11, 2018 Alastair called Kelly who then called me and passed along the information that the police have decided to rule Scott’s death a suicide, based on the following points:
- There was no sign of drugs or alcohol in his system.
- There was a hesitation wound on his chest. (They later told me that maybe there was a hesitation mark, but the body was in such bad shape that it was hard to tell.)
- There was no sign of resistance or conflict.
- There was nothing obviously taken.
- They never found anything indicating that anyone else had been in the house at the time.
I have trouble with the idea of Scott doing this, but on one level am very glad they reached this (or any) decision and we can expect to get on with doing what is best for our memory of Scott.
They also found no sign of a will, so as soon as the coroner releases the official death certificate the legal process of application for probate can start.
On Saturday July 13th Alastair gave Roy permission to enter Scott’s house. Roy has a key and is going to Bath on Monday, so will go in then and take pictures of the current condition of the place and send them to us.
On July 15th I heard from Alastair that the police would release Scott’s body on or around the 18th, so I made a reservation to fly to London on the 29th. Nigel kindly offered to pick me up at Heathrow and take me to Scott’s house in Bath. I booked the flight on Virgin Atlantic, and as with the last time, after booking a tourist class ticket, they offered to upgrade it to Premium Class for just a couple hundred dollars. I took them up on the offer.
On July 26th Alastair sent the following information to Roy: The car and house keys will be put through the door (mail slot) at number 21 Calton Walk, Bath tonight. They will be in a large brown envelope and inside this will be a prepaid envelope, and inside this will be a receipt for you to sign and date (x)and send back to me.
Roy let me know the next day that the envelope wasn’t inside the door…so based on prior experience he went up the hill one level to 21 Calton Gardens and knocked on their door. Fortunately they were home…they had the envelope and after looking in it figured it might be for 21 Calton Walk and were going to bring it down there if nobody came looking for it.
On July 27th Alastair sent email containing the coroner’s contact information and the news that the body was no approved for release. He also said that he expected that all the stuff they took into custody during the investigation should be available for return during the time I intend to be in Bath.