- A note was discovered on his computer
- by his parents,
- detailing exactly
- how and when
- he planned
- to take his own life.
- He was 28,
- autistic,
- diagnosed with depression.
- The Department ordered him
- to attend a work capability assessment.
- He refused.
- The Department decided
- to terminate his benefits,
- his only source of income.
- Six years ago
- he told his social workers
- he did not wish to have contact
- with his family.
- His parents had battled to see him since
- but were forbidden from knowing
- where he lived.
- He had previously gone
- voluntarily
- to the acute inpatient mental health unit
- in the town where he lived
- after being told about the assessment.
- He was reluctant to ask for help again.
- ‘If I am accepted,
- I will have to stay up to 28 days
- or six months
- in a boring and cramped environment
- surrounded
- by very damaged people. After which
- it will be determined
- that I no longer need treatment
- and will be allowed to leave.
- I will likely be homeless,
- starting from zero again,
- and the vicious cycle
- will begin anew.’
- Social services closed his case
- after he failed to respond to letters.
- The note revealed
- he made three separate attempts
- to hang himself
- between 2016 and 2018.
- He wrote:
- ‘Each time I failed with panic.’
- He wrote:
- ‘I cannot be bothered to fight this
- any more. I am
- out of energy. I only exist
- to do what I want to do.
- Dealing with paperwork,
- making phone calls, feeling
- anxious
- every day
- about whether I am going to be homeless
- are things I do not want to do.’
- His body was discovered
- in an advanced state of decomposition
- nine months later
- when housing association officials
- called to evict.
[Milton Keynes Citizen, 16/09/2019, Autistic Milton Keynes man left suicide note on computer explaining tragic reasons he took his own life; Milton Keynes Citizen, 02/12/2020, ‘Our son’s tragic loss of life could have been avoided’, say parents of autistic Milton Keynes man whose death went unnoticed for nine months]