The story was his side and an official announcement from “management”. A typical driveby media story that tears at the heart of readers.
Where were the interviews of “his mates”, the guys at the station with him on those long dark nights? No off the record “He’s a really great guy, management is railroading him. We love working with him” section in the story.
Granted the UK has weird newspaper rules but.......
Perhaps such accounts will be forthcoming, and if it turns out that my opinion is wrong then I will have no problem in adjusting it accordingly. I have no great fondness or respect for the mainstream media, but a similar version has been written by multiple reporters in multiple papers...although this of course doesn’t guarantee accuracy, I would suggest that it also doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the story has been spun.
If there’s an “alternate ending” I’m guessing that the UK Sun or the Daily Mail will dig it up. They have come up with some amazing “out of the box” stuff in times past.