Ex-cricketer Graham Thorpe ‘spiralled into depression’ after losing job, inquest hears

The former England cricketer Graham Thorpe “spiralled into depression” after losing his job as a batting coach in 2022, an inquest has heard.

The 55-year-old died on 4 August 2024 after being struck by a train at a railway station in Surrey. His widow, Amanda Thorpe, later said he had taken his own life.

An inquest at Surrey coroner’s court in Woking on Wednesday heard that Graham Thorpe was diagnosed with anxiety and depression in 2018 and had tried to kill himself in 2022.

An incident involving a leaked video in Australia in 2022 had left him distraught, the court was told.

According to reports at the time, the video, filmed after a dismal Ashes series in which England lost 4-0 to Australia, showed Tasmanian police breaking up a drinking session involving players from both sides.

The video incident had “caused catastrophic damage” to Thorpe, his father said in a statement to the inquest, adding that he believed those who were responsible for his son’s safety and care could have done more to intervene.

Amanda Thorpe said that until 2020 there were no psychological issues in particular, apart from “a bout of depression” in 2018, which did not affect her husband’s job.

In a statement to the court, she said her husband “found lockdown and Covid very difficult, very stressful”.

Graham Thorpe shared a video with some friends, which was leaked, and the incident was “blown out of all proportion”, leaving him “distraught”, her statement added.

She said it was a “horrible” time, and the later termination of his employment with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was a “real shock to Graham”, which was the “start of the decline of his mental health”.

Thorpe was a prominent batter for England between 1993 and 2005 before spending 12 years in coaching roles.

He struck 16 test hundreds, including a debut century against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1993, and represented his country 182 times in all formats.

Thorpe’s father said his son became “more and more desperate and helpless in the last year of his life”.

Reading Geoff Thorpe’s statement, the coroner said: “You felt those who were responsible for Graham’s safety and care could’ve done more to intervene.”

Prof Nick Peirce, the ECB’s chief medical officer, said in a statement that after Thorpe’s employment ended in February 2022 his private health insurance cover was extended until May that year.

In May, the ECB was advised that Thorpe had attempted to take his own life, and Peirce explained that “at no point during Graham’s time at ECB had there been any concern regarding a risk of self-harm or intent to end life”.

The inquest continues.

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