NIGEL Pope Simmonds, who was found dead in his flat in Whetham House in Bridport last week, knew he was going to die, says friend and neighbour Ken Hallett.

Mr Hallett, who lives in Borough Gardens, said the South African former army man, despite his drinking and drug taking, was a good friend and neighbour.

Mr Hallett said Mr Simmonds, 59, had spoken to him a few days before his death and hinted he knew he would die soon.

Mr Hallett, 70, said: “He was my neighbour. We thought a lot of him even though he was a bit of a rogue. He was a lovely man.

“Everyone knew him by his dog who would carry his shopping around town for him.”

Mr Hallett, who knew Mr Simmonds for five years, said his friend had got into drugs and alcohol to help him deal with pain.

Mr Hallett said: “He was in a catch 22 situation because he was in so much pain he took drugs and drank.

“He had ulcers and a serious chest complaint.

“On the Tuesday he was extremely bad and was not well at all. He knocked on our door and asked my wife if she would make him a cup of tea. That’s the first time he has ever done that. He came in and hinted that he didn’t have long.

“And on Sunday when his friend Chrissie went to church for the first time ever he said I think you better say a prayer for me and he’d never said that before. She said to us he knew.

“I wish the hospital or his doctor had done more for him.”

Mr Hallett and his wife Margaret would often give him stew, which he had to liquidise to eat they said.

“He looked like something out of Belsen he would go a week without eating because it hurt him to eat.

We’d give him porridge but he couldn’t keep it down he was painfully, painfully thin.

“Underneath everything he was a lovely man.

“His mental health was fine he was a smart guy, It’s a tragedy.

“He wasn’t a typical drug addict he just got into drugs and into the wrong crowd.

“We liked him a lot.”

Mr Hallett, who was a manger at the Furzebrook station in Wareham, said Mr Simmonds was adopted and had an adopted sister in Australia.

He added: “Before they died his mother and father left a trust fund for him, which paid him a sum once a year.

Mr Hallett said they could always tell when the money had come through because more people would congregate around him.

“As soon as his money had run out we could tell two ways – a) he would come to us for a loan and b) everybody would disappear. They were not really his friends.”

Police have arrested a 30-year-old man on suspicion of supplying drugs and is currently on police bail.

Bridport and Lyme Regis News:

Whetham House where Nigel Simmonds lived.