TV presenter's body at station for 6 days

The body of grieving TV presenter Mark Speight may have lain undiscovered at Paddington Station for up to six days.

The 42-year-old was found by railway workers at 10am, hanging in a partially disused part of Macmillan House.

One source said: "His body was discovered in the roof where the joists are. He was certainly not visible to anyone on the ground."

Mark Speight was one of the most recognisable faces on children's television for more than a decade. His spiky blonde hair, rubbery features and enthusiastic grin was seen on programmes such as Scratchy and Co, See It Saw It and SMart.

But his world fell apart in January when he found fiancee Natasha Collins dead in the couple's north London flat. "A part of me died with her," he later told reporters. "She was my soulmate and best friend rolled into one."

SMart was his big break - a BBC children's programme that inherited Tony Hart's legacy of lessons in painting and handicraft. The success of that show led Mr Speight to ITV, where he spent four years as host of the anarchic Saturday morning children's show Scratchy and Co. In 1999, he was cast as the bumbling king of Much Jollity-On-The-Mirth in CBBC game show See It, Saw It. It was on this programme that he met Natasha Collins, who played a court jester.

After he found her body in their bathroom earlier this year, Mr Speight became troubled and vulnerable, according to his family. He was initially arrested on suspicion of murder and supplying Class A drugs, but last month Scotland Yard said he would not face any charges over the death. An inquest into Ms Collins' death heard she had taken cocaine and sleeping tablets before apparently collapsing in the bath.

Mr Speight was reported missing a week after the coroner recorded a verdict of death by misadventure. Presenter Kirsten O'Brien, who worked alongside Mr Speight on SMart, said he was "without doubt the funniest man I've ever known".

She said: "Filming days were a joy as Mark would often have the crew and I doubled up with laughter and I think that showed on screen. I'm proud to have had Mark in my life and am devastated at losing him in such a terrible way. All of his friends will miss him deeply. Mark could find light in the darkest situations for others. I'm only sorry he couldn't find it for himself."

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Released on Monday 21st April 2008

Source - www.newsbbc.co.uk and www.dailymail.co.uk