Missing man's death was preventable, says family

The family of a student whose body part was found on a beach told an inquest his death was a "preventable tragic event".

Pawel Martyniak, 21, from Gorleston, went missing in December 2021, and his remains were found on Winterton beach by a member of the public in March 2023.

Norfolk Coroner's Court heard he had stopped taking his medication for a severe depressive disorder in June 2021 and had spoken about gender dysphoria.

In a family statement read out at the hearing, his family believed he had not received "the necessary care and treatment" and his care had been "neglected and mismanaged".

Mr Martyniak was a patient of the Beaches Medical Centre GP surgery in Great Yarmouth.

Dr Sunder Gopaul read out a statement from the centre, which recalled that Mr Martyniak had started to identify as female before his death and wanted a referral to a gender clinic.

He also read out a second statement, which said the practice was not aware he had stopped taking his medication. Dr Gopaul said if they had, they would have acted on it promptly.

Mr Martyniak had also been under the care of the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) - which is the local mental health service.

Ian Steward-Anderson, a mental health practitioner and qualified social worker at the NSFT started seeing Mr Martyniak in 2020 and said he presented as "quite depressed" and had experienced "some psychotic symptoms".

Mr Steward-Anderson said after dropping out at the University of Essex in 2019, Mr Martyniak was "ruminating on his failings", and there was a sense of "not knowing what to do with his life".

"My impression was a very thoughtful, sensitive young man; he was clearly very troubled at that point in time," he added.

He said Mr Martyniak was ambivalent about medication and said there was some scepticism about his health, adding: "I don't think he would accept clearly he was experiencing an illness."

During their conversations, he said Mr Martyniak talked about identity, sexuality and gender dysphoria and had conversations about him receiving specialist support.

In Mr Steward-Anderson's statement, he said Mr Martyniak's mother was concerned her son had been acting erratically and not sleeping.

Questioned by area coroner Yvonne Blake, the practitioner said Mr Martyniak had not been "acting erratically with us".

Mr Martyniak's cause of death was described as unascertained, due to his remains being incomplete.

The inquest continues.

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