Bodybuilder dad, 25 found dead at home
Date: 08-05-2007
Posted by: Anabolic Info TeamUnited Kingdom |
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A YOUNG bodybuilder and dad-of-one has been found dead at his home.
Christopher Phillips, 25, was found by his mother in the bedroom of the Llanharan home he shared with his girlfriend Nicola and son Kian, five.
It is not known how the seemingly healthy dad died, but his heartbroken family believe he may have taken his own life. His young son has now been taken into care.
Close family friend Paul Baccara, who had known Christopher all his life, said today: “His mother thought there was something wrong because she couldn’t get hold of him on the phone so she raised the alarm with the police.
“They broke into the house and found Chris dead on his bed.”
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He said Christopher, who was known to his family and friends as Chris, had been very close to his mother Penny, 49, and she was still too upset to talk.
“He only had his mother so they were very very close,” said Mr Baccara, who is councillor for Talbot Green.
“She’s absolutely devastated. Inconsolable.
“Kian has been told his daddy’s gone to sleep and he’s up in the stars now. He seems to be OK at the moment.”
Mr Baccara said his family believed he had taken his own life but there were no clues as to why.
“Chris was a very shy boy and very loving,” he said.
“Over the last four or five years he found a great hobby in bodybuilding, which we thought was building up his self-esteem, but he kept himself to himself.
“We thought he was blissfully happy because he had fought for custody of his child Kian, who was from a previous relationship, and won. That and he was with his loving girlfriend Nicola.
“We didn’t know there was a problem, otherwise we would have interfered.”
The Bridgend College pupil had visited the gym every day to train as a bodybuilder.
Just last month he appeared in a BBC Wales Week In Week Out investigation about the use of steroids in the sport.
He had been the only bodybuilder in South Wales willing to speak out about the darker side of the sport.
His body was discovered on Saturday, April 28, at his home in Park View, Llanharan, at about 11am.
An inquest into his death has been opened and adjourned. Police say they are not treating his death as suspicious.
His funeral takes place tomorrow at Coychurch Crematorium at 1.45pm.
Mr Baccara is holding a collection to help with Kian’s upbringing and donations can be made at Talbot Green Post Office, Stuart Terrace, Talbot Green.
