- When she returned to their flat
- she found a note:
- ‘Don’t come into the bathroom.’
- Her husband was 44,
- a former helicopter pilot.
- They met while travelling in South Africa
- eventually settled in London.
- She got a job but was made redundant.
- He
- constantly struggled to find work,
- was unable to complete training
- as an electrician;
- the Jobcentre would not continue to pay his benefit
- because the training
- stopped him from being available
- for job interviews.
- He tried to commit suicide for the first time
- by crushing 150 tranquiliser pills
- which he swallowed with whisky.
- He was found
- still alive
- by his wife.
- The suicide bid
- was so she and their son
- could benefit from a life insurance policy.
- Later
- they received a letter from the Council
- saying
- their housing benefit would decrease
- by 30 pounds a week
- forcing them to move
- with nowhere to go.
- He was found
- dead
- in the bath
- by his wife,
- with three stab wounds
- to his chest and abdomen.
- A diagram showing the position of the heart
- had been mounted on one wall
- and three kitchen knives
- were on a folding table
- next to the bath.
- Suicide notes
- addressed to his family
- and the police
- had been placed on the bed
- along with more anatomical diagrams.
- But his wife had already cancelled the policy.
[Sutton & Croydon Guardian, 25/08/2011, Southfields dad committed suicide after housing benefit cut; Court News UK (via the Internet Archive), undated (archive dated 14/03/2016), Father killed himself after benefits cut]