Mother Wants Justice for Daughter Who Took Her Own Life After Benefits Were Stopped

This is from Teeside Live.

As a little girl, Jodey Whiting loved dolls.

Her first, named Tracey, was a gift from her beloved nana.

“She was always motherly,” beamed Jodey’s mum.

“She dreamed of being a mam.”

But clutching her daughter’s picture, Joy Dove says Jodey’s nine children had their mum snatched from them by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).

The 42-year-old’s inquest heard Jodey took her own life after her benefits were stopped because she missed a health review - despite never seeing the appointment letter.

Plagued by ill health, including a brain cyst and a curved spine, she could barely make it through her Stockton home’s front door.

And days after her body was found near a suicide note, her family received another DWP letter confirming the benefit cut - despite Joy already telling staff she had died.

“I blame the DWP for her death,” said grieving Joy.

“The DWP has blood on their hands over my Jodey.”

'I love my kids - I’ve just had enough'

She’s now embroiled in a battle with the Government department for an apology.

Teesside Coroner’s Court heard Jodey had battled with mental and physical health problems during her short life.

A shop assistant, she was forced to retire young due to pain which left her on 23 tablets-a-day, including morphine.

Police broke into her Hulme House home on February 21 after Joy became worried.

Days earlier, Jodey declined help at Roseberry Park after warning “she felt like doing herself in”.

Inside the property, officers discovered notes near the young grandmother’s body.

'She was the best mum ever'

At Wednesday’s inquest, her family broke down in tears as they angrily accused the DWP’s actions as being the “trigger” for Jodey to take a fatal drug cocktail.

The inquest heard she had overdosed before, but the “extreme stress” inflicted by the DWP pushed Jodey over the edge.

“This was the last straw - she didn’t know where to go,” said Joy.

She became an increasingly regular fixture at her GP’s surgery in the months before her death, along with a hospital stint.

Yet despite battling back problems since birth, the DWP ended her claims for Employment Support Allowance after missing the appointment.

Assistant Coroner Jo Wharton ruled Jodey took her own life.

“My Jodey was so trendy, she was popular and there were so many people at her funeral,” said 63-year-old Joy.

“She would do anything for anybody.”

'We will never get over this'

The inquest heard Jodey would use any money left over from her benefits to “treat” her kids.

“She had two sets of twins and loved all of her children so much,” added Joy.

But as she fought back tears at the inquest, one of her daughters - Emma - raged: “She was the best mum ever.

“They [the DWP] are in the wrong and through their choice we have lost our best friend.”

A formal complaint has been lodged with the DWP from Joy over the “significant stress” she said the department caused her following Jodey’s death.

Last year, an inquest heard that Boro-mad 18-year-old David Brown took his own life "under immense pressure" from Job Centre staff who had told him his money would be stopped unless he did more to find work.

Responding to Jodey's case, a spokesman for the DWP said: “Our thoughts are with Miss Whiting’s family at this difficult time.

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