Huw Weekes

Huw Weekes - who was born on January 22nd, 1957, in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales - was a British journalist and broadcaster.  The son of Philip Weekes, a senior National Coal Board official, Weekes was brought up in Aberdare.  He began his journalistic career at the age of eighteen as a cub reporter on the Weston Mercury weekly newspaper in Weston-Super-Mare in the south-west of England, before joining the Bristol Evening Post.  Weekes's first broadcasting job was as a reporter on BBC Radio Newcastle in 1980.  In 1982, he joined Yorkshire Television as a sub-editor, graduating to a presenter's role on YTV's nightly news magazine, Calendar.  Following another presenting role at Tyne Tees Television, Weekes returned to south Wales in 1988, joining HTV Wales in Cardiff.  He stayed with HTV for thirteen years, becoming a well-loved newsreader on the channel.  He was described by HTV Wales Controller and Programmes Director, Elis Owen, as "...a first-class journalist, an excellent broadcaster, and a good colleague.", and "...one of the cornerstones of the HTV news operation for many years, and was well-known and popular...".  Weekes settled in Llantwit Major in the Vale of Glamorgan with his wife, Sue, and his three children: Jennifer, Robert, and Alice.  In September of 2000, Weekes - who was described by a work colleague as "an up-and-down kind of person" - was diagnosed with clinical depression.  On the evening of January 17th, 2001, one of Weekes's work colleagues - fellow newsreader, Tara Eugene - received a phone call from Weekes, saying that he had driven to a remote car-park with a bottle of wine and some sleeping-pills, and was planning to ingest them and freeze to death.  Weekes also said that a car had then pulled-up nearby, which he took as a sign not to go through with his plan.  Miss Eugene later tried to contact Weekes at his flat, without success, before contacting Weekes's sister to inform her of his distress.  His sister got no answer when she called at his Cardiff flat, assuming he had gone to bed, as he had to be in the news studio early the next morning.  Weekes had been due to arrive at work in Cardiff at 5 a.m. on January 18th, as he was scheduled to read the morning news bulletins, but he failed to turn up.  Concerned colleagues called his home, but to no avail.  Later that day, Weekes's dead body was found on Boverton Beach, where he used to play with his children, just two miles from his Llantwit Major home.  An inquest revealed that he had died by drowning after taking an overdose of Temazepam sleeping pills and some alcohol.  There were also rumours that Weekes and his wife had been having marital difficulties.  Huw Weekes was just 43 years old.