Paul Bhattacharjee's death was suicide, inquest rules

The inquest into the death of actor Paul Bhattacharjee has concluded he committed suicide after being declared bankrupt.

The 53-year-old, whose body was found at Splash Point cliffs in July, was reported missing during rehearsals for the Royal Court's Open Court season.

Bhattacharjee's partner Emma McKie said in a statement he was a "proud" man with a "darkness inside him that was irreparable".

The declaration of bankruptcy, which arrived at his home the day before he went missing, was "the final straw after a life of major highs and lows," she added.

East Sussex coroner Alan Craze concluded: "There isn't scope at all in this case and therefore the conclusion of this inquest will be that Gautam Paul Bhattacharjee took his own life whilst the balance of his mind was disturbed… This was a huge tragedy for a lot of people."

Bhattacharjee was a highly respected actor, with stage credits including Much Ado About Nothing opposite Meera Syal, The Physicists at the Donmar and Complicite's A Disappearing Number.

Paying tribute, Syal said: "Paul was an incredibly gifted, versatile and generous actor but also complex, deep thinking, engagingly opinionated and politically committed as a personality, truly wonderful to share a stage with."