A woman returning from the school run discovered a man’s lifeless body in a public toilet in Chippenham town centre.
The ambulance service was called to the Bath Road Car Park shortly before 9am this morning (3 September) following a call from a member of the public reporting an unresponsive male.
Local woman Trina Rankin says she found the man when she tried to close the toilet door that has been wedged open.
As first reported by Wiltshire 999s, detectives attended the scene and decided the death was most likely to be non-suspicious.
Here’s everything we know about today’s upsetting discovery (please note: timings are approximate):
TIME UNKNOWN: A middle-aged local man riding a silver bicycle entered the Bath Road Car Park and used the pay-to-go public toilet within it.
8.50AM: Trina Rankin had dropped her children at school before walking into the town centre. She took a shortcut through the car park where she noticed the public toilet door was ajar. Ms Rankin attempted to close the door, knowing it should be locked, and instead found a middle-aged man on the floor.
8.51AM: South Western Ambulance Service received a call from Ms Rankin reporting the suspected death. Two other local women stepped in to provide further assistance at the scene ahead of the ambulance’s arrival.
8.55AM: An ambulance rapid response vehicle, carrying a senior paramedic, was first to arrive at the incident. An ambulance and several police vehicles followed shortly afterwards.
9AM: It was quickly established that the adult male was deceased and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
9.05AM: Police officers cordoned off part of the car park as a crime scene. People using the car park as a cut-through had to divert around the area.
9.20AM: Wiltshire 999s reporter Daniel Jae Webb arrived at the incident. A breaking news story was published a short time later when the death was confirmed by Wiltshire Police.
9.45AM: Two detectives from CID attended the incident and marked the death as non-suspicious. This means that the police do not believe there was any criminal activity surrounding the man’s death.
10.15AM: Ambulance service staff recovered the man’s body from the toilet and put him into the back of the emergency ambulance.
10.45AM: The police removed the crime scene tape and left the scene.
