Coroner Cannot Conclusively Deem The Prodigy Singer Keith Flint’s Death a Suicide

Keith Flint, vocalist of The Prodigy, was found dead in his home in the U.K. by Essex police on March 4, 2019, after they received an anonymous report concerning his welfare. Shortly after the announcement of his death, bandmate Liam Howlett posted on Instagram to comemorate his late friend, stating that Flint had taken his own life. The band updated their website with a tribute to Flint and announced that they were cancelling all upcoming shows for the foreseeable future. Fans were devastated at the news, starting a hashtag “Firestarter4Number1” in reference to The Prodigy’s song “Firestarter” and a campagin to raise awareness of male suicide in the U.K. Flint’s funeral on March 29 was followed by a 1.5 mile long group of fans mourning Flint’s death.

However, despite all signs indicating that Flint had taken his life by hanging and the social media campaign following, a coronary report later declard that Flint’s death could not be ruled as suicide. Essex’s Senior Coroner, Beasley-Murrary, said that she “considered” that Flint’s death may have been a suicide but that there was not enough evidence to conclisively argue that this was the case. In order to rule the death as a suicide, Beasley-Murray commented that she would have needed evidence that “Mr. Flint formed the idea and took deliberate action knowing it would result in his death.” However, there were high amount of alcohol, cocaine, and codeine in his body, and there was not enough evidence to deem that Flint’s death was intentional.

Currently, both fans and other bands are in mourning of Flint, including Bob Moses, who paid tribute to Flint in cover of “Breathe.” The Prodigy has remained relatively quiet since this news and has not announced whether they will be scheduling any more concerts soon or what the future of the band will look like.

Sarah Dubbs: University of Southern California undergraduate class of 2022, following semester studying abroad at the American University of Paris. Majoring in Creative Writing on a Pre-Law track, pursuing a progressive degree in Literary Editing and Publishing. Interested in literature, music production, law, journalism, and politics.
Related Post
Leave a Comment