Nigerian doctor based in UK commits Suicide after his double life was exposed

Dr Festus Ojagbemi lived with long-term partner Jackie Hammond in the week and lover Bamidele Ayeni at weekends.

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Dr Festus Ojagbemi lived with long-term partner Jackie Hammond in the week and lover Bamidele Ayeni at weekends. The 49-year-old fathered a child with Bamidele and racked up ­thousands of pounds in debt taking the women on separate holidays, the hearing was told.

 But when Jackie discovered his sordid secret he stabbed himself twice in the chest at his surgery. He survived and while he recovered in hospital told police and both women he had been attacked by a stranger. Dr Ojagbemi, who worked at St Mary’s Medical Centre in Strood, Kent, finally confessed to officers, only to take his own life four days later on February 12, the inquest heard. Jackie later found him hanged at the detached house they shared in nearby Hempstead. A note signed with his nickname, Wally, was on the TV cabinet.

 After the Nigerian-born doctor’s death, the cost of leading his double life started to emerge. Jackie told the Maidstone hearing a credit card firm phoned claiming he owed them £10,000. She said: “I started phoning and everyone told me how much he owed them. "By the time we got to the 10th or 11th the bill was huge we just couldn’t get our heads round it. "I work, I get paid, so we don’t talk about finances. If we go on holiday he pays.’’

Jackie claimed Dr Ojagbemi killed himself because of the guilt he felt over his cheating. She said: “He wanted my attention, he just wanted me to notice he was hurting because of what he had done to me.’’ Bamidele did not appear at the inquest but the hearing was told of evidence she gave to police. She claimed Dr Ojagbemi proposed last October and they were preparing for a wedding in April. He rented a flat for her and their child and visited on weekends. She said she knew about Jackie, but he had told her he “did not love her any more”. Bamidele told officers:

“He’s ­intelligent, loving, caring, he buys me lots of things. "Why would he do this to himself? Wally told me not to give anyone the news that we were getting married in April because everyone would go on about it.” Coroner Gail Elliman said: “I am satisfied Dr ­Ojagbemi took his own life.”