Unilever scientist who helped develop Slimfast drinks throws himself from roof of work HQ after being made redundant

  • Eminent doctor returns to deserted Unilever building to kill himself the day after finishing work for the last time
  • 48-year-old had been developing ready-to-consume drinks for Slimfast and Lipton Tea

By
Anthony Bond

Last updated at 3:46 PM on 9th February 2012


Depressed: Dr Clive Blackburn jumped to his death from the roof of Unilever in Bedfordshire just hours after being made redundant from his high-powered job

Depressed: Dr Clive Blackburn jumped to his death from the roof of Unilever in Bedfordshire just hours after being made redundant from his high-powered job

A top food scientist jumped to his death from the roof of his work laboratory just hours after being made redundant, an inquest has heard.

Dr Clive Blackburn – who developed products for big brand names including Slimfast and Lipton Tea – could not cope with losing his position at food giant Unilever, so meticulously planned his death.

He went to the deserted Unilever building on a Saturday – the day after finishing work for the last time – and duped security staff by saying he was collecting personal belongings.

The 48-year-old planned his suicide even adding the date of his death and the length of his employment at the Unilever development laboratories on a social networking site the day before he died.

He had not been able to handle being made redundant and saw his GP on several occasions leading up to his death complaining of depression.

Coroner David Morris told the
inquest: ‘He was made redundant with his last working day on November
11.

‘It appears he gained access to the building at around 4pm on
November 12 having asked security for his swipe card to collect his
belongings.

‘Security staff became concerned when they couldn’t locate him after several hours and called the police.

‘His body was eventually found lying on grass on the grounds of the site.

‘The cause of his death was recorded as multiple bone and soft tissue injuries, consistent with a fall from height.’

Paramedics were called to the Unilever site in Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, in the early hours of November 13 but the eminent doctor, who was influential in the food science world, was pronounced dead at the scene.

His body was found
on a grassed area at the back of the complex.

Scene of tragedy: Colworth Science Park in Sharnbrook, near Bedford, where Dr Clive Blackburn threw himself off the roof of his laboratory

Scene of tragedy: Colworth Science Park in Sharnbrook, near Bedford, where Dr Clive Blackburn threw himself off the roof of his laboratory

He was told by company directors that he was at risk of being made redundant last May and colleagues reported him behaving strangely at work after that point, the inquest in Bedford heard.

He regularly saw his GP, Dr Jonathan Wali, suffering from depression and confided that he felt he had no hope for the future.

He told his GP that he was turning up for work and ‘going through the motions’ but had been dreading being out of work.

He was being considered for second interviews for potential jobs but Dr Blackburn told his GP his last day at the company was ‘looming large in his thoughts.’

Talented: Dr Blackburn worked on big brand names including Slimfast and Lipton Tea

Talented: Dr Blackburn worked on big brand names including Slimfast and Lipton Tea

Dr Blackburn had worked at the company for 15 years and had updated his profile on social network site LinkedIn shortly before his death to read 1963 – 2011 and the end of employment with Unilever as November 2011, after three years and three months as the Group Leader, Drinks Design department.

Personal details on the site can only be changed by the page’s owner who has access to a password.

Dr Blackburn had been employed at the Unilever offices since 1996 developing ice-cream production, instant tea and improving the shelf life of food.

For the past three years he had been the manager of a team of 20 employees and had been developing ready-to-consume drinks on behalf of Slimfast, Lipton tea and soya based products.

Coroner Morris added: ‘He was a highly intelligent and highly qualified scientist who struggled with anxiety. With the impending redundancy he developed severe depression.

‘I have no alternative but to record a verdict that he took his own life, whilst suffering from acute depression.’

A year before his death Dr Blackburn moved into a converted Grade II listed home with his wife Elaine in Tithe Barn, Felmersham, Bedfordshire, less than two miles from the Unilever offices.

His wife, who attended the inquest, said she did not want to comment on his death.

  • For
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Here’s what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts,
or debate this issue live on our message boards.

The comments below have been moderated in advance.

I have to say initially I was all for the government cuts (after years of overspending by labour) however I am beginning to wonder whether it is the right approach. Its making everybody (rightly) scared for their jobs, the outlook for everyone seems so bleak that we are all concerned about spending and the whole cuts thing is having a very negative effect. To get back on track people need to feel positive, employers need to feel positive. It just isn’t happening….come on Mr Cameron something different needs to be done!

Big companies are very bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!We are already living 1984 by george orwell,why is mankind so dense??????

This is so sad. Perhaps next time the DM decides to publish yet another article labelling the unemployed as ‘scroungers’ they should consider the psychological impact this kind of demonisation might be having on people who are about to lose their jobs. Although Dr Blackburn was highly qualified, perhaps he was worried about how difficult it might be to get another job, as there have been plenty of examples in the media of people in their 40s and 50s (including well qualified ones) who have found it a massive struggle to get any sort of employment at all after they have been made redundant.
– Laura, Carlisle, 09/2/2012 14:50- Very well said but wasted onmost Daily Mail readers – they can’t grasp things like this!

People are a disposable commodity to many organisations. One colleague told me about a former Council employee who literally lived for work – got in early, left late, worried about performing well, about the importance of her projects etc. She died suddenly and you know what the Council did? went into her office and literally cleared the lot into binbags. A lesson there for us all….

You just can’t beat the care and consideration given by Global Corps towards their staff, can you?
Unilever, has a long history of looking after its employees (see:~ Port Sunlight), but its stage is now a world one, identical to the giant U.S. corporations like KRAFT who recently reached new levels of employee care after their dubious take over of Cadbury.
It is indeed a sick world, and set to get worse.

You are nothing but a payroll number to the shareholders and boardroom. The expect the earth for 30-40 years and give back nothing. This poor soul made them 100’s of millions and they treat him and his fellow workers as disposable asset, just like the rest of these big multi-nationals.

It must have been much worse for him given his age and the possibility of getting another high paid job in a very competitive industry would be quite difficult. I am sure that this is not the first suicide that redundant people are seeing as a way out of their predicament.

Speaking from experience, there is no thought or consideration given to the employees who are affected when these multi-national companys make redundancies etc. Loyal long serving employees deserve better.

Companies bleat about disloyal staff, and workers who ‘don’t care’ yet treat their own staff like tissues, to be discarded at the first opportunity, we’ll never match the Japanese until we value people like they do!

Very sad.
I’ve said it time again (even to the Unions CBI etc) – considering the social cost of redundancy – instead consider REDUCING EVERYONE’S PAY BY SAY 10% ; AND AVOID REDUNDANCY . That way everyone benefits (the employee, his family, the customers, the company – by having all hands on deck, the Taxpayer by saving unemployment benefits).
If this is happening in your company – TAKE COURAGE SUGGEST THIS TO THE MD HR. PLEASE. A 10% pay reduction is not that much.

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