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Good Samaritans attempted to save a popular barman who took his own life on a bridge, an inquest has heard.
Motorist Christopher Elliott was driving to work when he spotted Lee Harlow, 32, on the overpass above the Thanet Way in Herne Bay.
He drove past but shortly after turned his car around and headed back, telling the inquest in Maidstone what he had seen was “eating away at me”.
“I first noticed out of the corner of my eye a figure in what appeared to be a grey dressing gown,” he said in a statement read during the hearing on his behalf.
“I turned around in Seasalter. I called my wife and told her it was eating away at me that someone needed help.
“I stood at the base of the bridge about 10 to 15 metres away from the person.
“I could see bare legs and asked ‘Hello, can you hear me?’ An ambulance arrived at the scene 10 minutes later.”
A second driver, Grant Kendrick, also arrived at the scene after spotting a red Peugeot parked close to the bridge. Upon arrival, Mr Elliott told him he feared Lee was dead.
Tragically, Lee was pronounced dead by medics shortly afterwards at 7.10am on August 24.
DS Ally Franks told the hearing Lee had attempted to contact his girlfriend in the early hours of that day “to say he was jumping”.
Afterwards, he tried to reach his mother, Annie Harlow, and brother Terry.
“There’s no evidence of any other party being involved in his death,” DS Franks added.
“Annie stated Lee suffered with mental health issues since the breakdown of her marriage, and that he self-harmed since he was a teenager.”
Annie previously told KentOnline that her son – who was best-known for working in the Diver’s Arms, Druid’s Head and the Prince of Wales – had battled depression since the age of seven.
Post-mortem examinations revealed the cause of death to be hanging. Blood tests also showed he was more than twice the drink-drive alcohol limit.
Recording the death as suicide, assistant coroner Geoffrey Smith told the court that text messages sent by Lee that day suggested “he was not in a good frame of mind”.
“It’s apparent that he had had some difficulties in the past,” Mr Smith said.
“I am satisfied on balance not only that he did kill himself, but that he meant to.
“It’s always sad for any family to contemplate that their child killed himself in this way, but I’m assured that this is where the evidence points.”
Born in Dartford, Lee later moved to Wilmington, where he attended Hextable Secondary School.
Family members say he he helped to secure lottery funding for the school through his performing, and was even talent-spotted by Greenwich dance agency.
It was not until 2005 that the family moved to Herne Bay, and Lee started to ply his trade as a bartender.
Speaking in September, Annie said: “He was gentle, kind, selfless and beautiful. Everybody knew him in Herne Bay, and he was there for everybody.
“He was a showman behind the bar. If there was music on, he’d be dancing – and people loved that. He wasn’t the boring barman.
“He made people happy and was an entertainer, although he was broken inside.”
“If there was anybody going through some trouble, he had empathy because he knew that pain.
“He took on such a lot when he was crumbling inside himself.
“Where he saved a lot of people, unfortunately his cry for help failed. I don’t think he really wanted to die.”
Lee is survived by his brother Terry, half-sister Niamh, mum Annie and dad Stuart.
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