Artist in Handcuff Horror

A schizophrenic artist who died after handcuffing himself to a tree after throwing away the key, may have tried to free himself, an inquest has heard. The skeleton of Richard Sumner - 47 when he went missing three years ago - was found in a remote area of Clocaenog Forest, Denbighshire. He had attempted to take his life in this manner before and in 1996 had taken four days to free himself. His skeleton was found by a woman who had become lost while walking her dog. A Home Office pathologist stated could have been there for a few days - if you handcuff yourself to a tree you would die fairly quickly but maybe not as quickly as you would like... The handcuffs attached to one arm indicated that Mr Sumner had attached himself to the tree and thrown the key to a point where he could not retrieve it but the position of the handcuffs and marks found on the tree indicated that Mr Sumner had probably changed his mind, but could not reach the key. For the full story - click the title Irish Art