A fire chief took his own life “because he couldn’t take it any more” after months of alleged harassment and questions about his qualifications, an inquest has heard.
Wayne Brown, 54, who was the UK’s first black fire chief and held the role for the West Midlands fire service (WMFS), was found dead at his flat in Birmingham by police on 24 January 2024.
His partner, Nicola White, said media attention over claims he had lied on his CV about having an MBA postgraduate business qualification – a requirement for chief fire officers – was the “final straw”.
“He just couldn’t take it any more. I said ‘Wayne, you need to speak to someone’, but he didn’t like to show his weaknesses,” she told Birmingham coroner’s court.
“He was the first person to support others and tell them to seek help, but he felt he needed to be strong for everyone else.”
The inquest was told Brown had been under pressure because of a “barrage” of harassment and complaints about him in the form of emails, freedom of information requests and letters to his workplace as well as social media posts.
He had left a note saying the last 18 months of his life had been “absolutely awful” and “I can’t do this any more”.
The court was told that on 16 January 2024, days before he took his own life, colleagues at the fire service had been copied into an email saying that Brown did not have the MBA qualification from London South Bank university he claimed to, which led to an internal investigation.
Satinder Sahota, the monitoring officer for WMFS, said after questioning Brown about the claims he admitted he had started an MBA but had not finished it and apologised for putting it on his CV.
Joanne Bowcock, WMFS’s deputy fire officer at the time, said in a statement read out at the inquest that she recognised Brown was under pressure due to the alleged harassment and the media interest, but she never considered he would take his own life.
She said he appeared to be coping well but told her after the email about the MBA that he had “the worst two weeks of his life” and feared he would be suspended.
DCI Jonathan Kiteley, a police officer investigating the alleged harassment, said a man was charged in 2023 and Brown had expressed frustration that a court date about it had been pushed back.
“I had no idea he would go on to take his own life but I could tell the constant barrage of contact was getting to him,” said Kiteley.
The charges were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service after Brown’s death.
Louise Hunt, the senior coroner who presided over the inquest, said Brown had died as a result of suicide and indicated she would be raising concerns with WMFS.
She said the fire service did not undertake any investigation after the death so lessons could be learned and was concerned that there was no policy requiring them to do so.
Brown’s son Kai said he was “loved and respected”, had many friends and was their “shining star”. He added: “We will be forever proud of him and he leaves a void in our lives which will never be filled.”
• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
