RAF fireman took his life after homosexual encounter

A coroner yesterday recorded a verdict of suicide into the death of senior aircraftman Robert Fleeting, 24, who was found hanging in his room at RAF Benson in Wallingford, Oxfordshire.

The inquest heard that internal bruising, which could have been caused by a sexual encounter, was found during a post-mortem examination. Notes written by SAC Fleeting following the encounter in the early hours of 4 September last year were said to make clear he had intended to take his own life.

The court heard SAC Fleeting, who was engaged to be married back home in Scotland, was not thought to have had a homo-sexual experience before that night.

Following the verdict, the RAF man’s father, Charlie, said the family believed his death had not been investigated properly by police. “I am not happy with the verdict, but the coroner’s hands were tied because of the evidence he was given by the police,” he said.

“I think something happened to my son on that night, and he could not live with the fact that something happened to him, and he took his own life.”

Robert Fleeting’s body was discovered by colleagues shortly after 12:30pm on 4 September after he failed to turn up for lunch after a night out.

The inquest was told he had been out drinking with a group of friends in Henley the night before his death, and they returned to the base at around 2am. When he failed to show up later that day, his colleagues went to look for him. He was found hanging from the back of a door.

Coronor Nicholas Gardiner was told SAC Fleeting, of Greenhills, East Kilbride, had become involved in a disagreement over taxis with a colleague, referred to as Mr A B.

Charlotte Ward, a medic at RAF Benson, said that after the death Mr A B had told her something had happened between him and SAC Fleeting that night.

“He said they had gone back to his room, had a few drinks and that stuff had happened, that they had had sex,” she said.