Suspicious deaths of Bristol HTV journalists in the 1990s

[TonyGosling]

The Dando explanation fits. There’s more on that trail in Bristol television.

What stories were they on to?

Annie St John HTV presenter


Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLYBXSYlOhY

In November 1990, St John apparently took a lethal cocktail of champagne and drugs at her flat in Baltic Wharf, Bristol. She was found semi-conscious and naked on her bed by HTV director of programming Derek Clark and a studio rigger following concern from colleagues when St John failed to turn up for work.

‘Watergate-like stink ‘(Telegraph) re death (Important - site needs unwinding).



Clark (who died quite recently) said he’d gone to the flat when colleagues worried she hadn’t reported for work at the studio. He found her in a semi comatose state having apparently swallowed a huge overdose of sleeping tablets. Bizarrely he later admitted he removed a gamut of personal papers from the scene without having anything like a convincing explanation. (‘I felt they were personal to her’). The inquest bore all the tell talel signatures of a cover up, which was precisely the conclusion of the clearly pissed off coroner..


David Hillier suicide

https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/7352132.suicide-riddle-of-devo ted-couple/

David was a third string cameraman at HTV in my time. A quieter and nicer man it was hard to imagine. Book lover, strong sense of humour, good ‘capture style’ for hard news events, though overshadowed by top shots Graham Edgar and Bob Edwards. I was astonished when I read the pair had topped themselves, utterly out of character, tho his wife was unwell. So thought everyone in Warminster, home town.

[TonyGosling]

25th April 2002
Suicide riddle of devoted couple
https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/7352132.suicide-riddle-of-devo ted-couple/

FRIENDS and family of former TV cameraman David Hillier and his wife Helene have spoken of their devastation after the couple died last week in an apparent suicide pact.

Mr and Mrs Hillier had no children, but relatives contacted Devizes police last Thursday morning, having been unable to reach the couple at their home near Devizes.

PC Steve Cox called at their home, Lovelock Cottage in Little Horton, at 9.20am that morning and found the couple and their pets, two cats and a dog, all dead in the same room.

Following their investigations, police said there were no suspicious circumstances and they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.

It is known that Mrs Hillier, 62, a former nursing sister at the Royal United Hospital in Bath, had been seriously ill with breast cancer for the last 18 months to two years. Although surgery and radiotherapy initially brought hopes of a cure, the disease later spread to her lungs.

Wiltshire coroner David Masters has been informed of the deaths and he opened and adjourned an inquest at Trowbridge Magistrates' Court on Tuesday. A toxicology report is being awaited before the cause of death can be confirmed.

Mr and Mrs Hillier, who were married for 48 years, were devoted to each other, said shocked and stunned members of their families.

Mr Hillier's brother, Anthony, who lives near Totnes in Devon, said: "They were a devoted couple and are now united in death."

Mr Hillier was born in Bath and joined the newspaper industry as a photographer. After working for the Bath Evening Chronicle and the Chippenham News as a stills photographer, he went on to the South West Picture Agency in Bristol where he learned how to operate a film camera.

Peter Fulwood, who ran the agency, said: "You could not have found a more pleasant man to work with. He was a very competent photographer and a very nice bloke."

After about three years, he and Mrs Hillier left to go to Kenya, where Mrs Hillier was born, but they only stayed for about three months before returning to the UK.

They then moved to Australia where Mr Hillier found work as a film cameraman at Channel 9 in Sydney while Mrs Hillier ran a slimming clinic.

But beaten by the hot weather, the couple returned to England 18 months later and Mr Hillier went back to the South West Picture Agency, covering international incidents including a devastating earthquake in Morocco.

In 1974, he joined HTV as a cameramen, working with reporters such as Kate Adie, Alison Holloway, Ken Rees and Brent Sadler.

Richard Lister, head of press and public relations at HTV, said: "The staff at HTV are in a state of shock and their thoughts go out to the friends and family of Mr and Mrs Hillier."

Mr Hillier took early retirement in 1988 and the couple moved to Little Horton where Mr Hillier indulged his appetite for fast cars and motorbikes.

Mrs Hillier's brother, David Bird, who flew in from Brunei after being told of the couple's deaths, said: "They were a devoted couple and very insular. They would not have wanted to live alone, either of them. They had no children. Their animals were their family."

PC Cox has appealed to friends and neighbours to report when they last saw the couple alive. Call Devizes Police on (01380) 722141.