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Pari päivää sitten selatessani Pomon tilaamaa Hesaria mieleeni juolahti, että minne on kadonnut lehden paras ja älykkäin senttari Tomi Ervamaa? Hän oli keväällä lehden tilauksen peruuttaessani kirjeenvaihtajana Lontoossa. Nyt siellä häärää uusi heppu.

En ole koskaan tavannut Tomi Ervamaata, eikä siihen enää ole mahdollisuutta. Eilen kuulin eräästä kustantamosta peräisin olevan huhun, että kaveri on kuollut kesällä Lontoossa "viinaan ja aineisiin". Tarkistin jutun Googlesta ja näin on tosiaankin päässyt käymään. Hesarin ainoa senttaritähti on poissa. Hänen kuolemastaan löysin suomalaiseen median verrattuna yllättävän seikkaperäisen selostuksen netistä:

www.thisislocallondon.co.uk

Finnish reporter’s binge-drink death
By Hollye Blades


A well-known Finnish journalist who lost his home and job because of his drinking was found dead in a bus shelter, an inquest heard.

Tomi Ervamaa, 42, a long-time correspondent for Finnish paper Helsingin Sanomat, was found dead in a bus shelter after dying from alcohol poisoning on July 1.

An inquest at Westminster Coroner's Court heard that Mr Ervamaa, had suffered from alcoholism and depression and had entered rehabilitation at least once in an attempt to stop drinking.


Mr Ervamaa, who was divorced with a son in Finland, came over to the UK in 2006 as a London correspondent. After just a few months, he lost his job due to his alcoholism and was forced to leave his flat in Dell Walk, New Malden.

He moved back to Finland in April this year where he spent two weeks in rehabilitation in an attempt to stop drinking and spent time with his former wife and son.

“Tomi Ervamaa was one of the very few writers who had a voice. Always facts-based, but often irreverent, even iconoclastic, his output was a joy to follow. There's one dry wit less in the world.”
Web tribute to Tomi Ervamaa

On June 22, Mr Ervamaa returned to London where he began drinking again. On the night of Friday, June 29, he was seen in Tottenham Court Road by a colleague, who described him as extremely drunk and with a cut on his cheek. He then called her mobile later that night and asked her if he could sleep at her flat for the night but she refused.

The following day, she texted him several times and, when he did not respond, she called the police and reported him missing.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, a group of teenagers came across Mr Ervamaa, unconscious in a bus shelter on Putney Heath. They flagged down a passing police car and the officers attempted to resuscitate him but with no success.

One tribute posted after his death on a website said: "Tomi Ervamaa was one of the very few writers who had a voice. Always facts-based, but often irreverent, even iconoclastic, his output was a joy to follow. There's one dry wit less in the world."

At the inquest, PC Wayne Orton, one of the first officers on the scene, said: "He had a bag with him, containing his Finnish passport. There was also an empty bottle of gin and a can of strong lager in his possession."

A postmortem examination carried out by Dr Robert Chapman found that the cut on his cheek was consistent with a fall and not an assault.

Coroner Dr Paul Knapman recorded a verdict of misadventure on Tuesday.

He said: "He had a fantastically high level of alcohol in his system, and alcohol at this type of level acts as a poison and would have proved fatal, no matter how accustomed someone is to drinking."

12:06pm Thursday 13th September 2007