BRIAN HARVEY ACCIDENT: "FREAK" SAYS MANAGER

Now, the first suicide attempt wasn't a suicide attempt, but a misunderstanding; the second suicide attempt wasn't a suicide attempt but a "cry for help"; the whole falling underneath the wheels of your own reversing car and ending up in surgery also wasn't a suicide attempt by Brian Harvey, but "a freak accident" according to his manager, Simon Harrison:

"It looks as if Brian was reversing down the road with his door open, looking out to see where he was going, and the door hit a parked car which sent his car out of control," he said. "Somehow he was thrown from the vehicle and crushed." Surgeons operated on his abdomen and pelvis, he told BBC Radio Five Live.

"I know he suffered from a broken leg, six breaks to the pelvis, his abdominal area was pushed very high into his chest, they had to drain his lungs yesterday and there was also damage to his ribs," he said.

Harvey faced more surgery on his leg on Wednesday, which Mr Harrison said was "broken so badly that it was turned completely in the opposite direction". He briefly regained consciousness and recognised his name, "which is a good sign in terms of his recovery," Mr Harrison said.

He confirmed Harvey had been depressed and his mental state had been "reasonably unstable in the last few months". But he said: "People have speculated it might be a suicide attempt but I don't think you could plan this if you tried. There are easier ways to kill yourself. It was just a freak accident and a piece of seriously bad luck."

"Unfortunately it comes at a time when everybody knows he has been suffering from depression," Mr Harrison said.

"But I spoke to him just a couple of days before this happened and he was very upbeat about recording some new music."

Well, it's true that there are easier ways to kill yourself, although since the official line on the earlier attempts is that Brian wasn't trying to kill himself, but merely get a good night's sleep and some attention respectively, you could see that as fitting a pattern. There's something a little disturbing about a view which suggests that, since someone who's clearly suffering from depression had been cheerful at the weekend, he couldn't possibly have been feeling crushed and desperate a couple of days later. Even if it wasn't a cry for help, maybe those who are charged with looking after him should treat it as such.

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