Chronically Ill Leeds Dad Took His Own Life After Benefits Stopped, Inquest Told

A woman told an inquest how the decision to stop her chronically ill father's benefits "led to him taking his own life".

Wakefield Coroner's Court heard how Leanne Dooley found her 48-year-old father Kevin hanged a week before Christmas 2018.

The court was told how the father-of-three, a painter and decorator who suffered from breathing problems caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, had feared not being able to pay his bills when his Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) was stopped as he had been deemed "fit to work".

Ms Dooley said her father, of Torre Crescent, Leeds, had been claiming ESA for years through the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) because his difficulties in breathing, coughing fits and blackouts prevented him from having a job.

Witnesses told how Mr Dooley had struggled to cope with the pressure to make ends meet and was found hanged at his home on December 17 last year, dying three days later in hospital.

In a statement read to the court, his daughter said: "I am of the firm belief that the issues around my father's fitness to work and the subsequent stopping of his benefits had an adverse effect on his health and led to him taking his own life."

Ms Dooley told the court how her father had been fearing the DWP would stop his allowance ever since he received a letter on July 18 last year calling him for an assessment.

She said she had attempted to calm him down and convince him everything would be OK because she felt there was "no chance" that "a man as poorly as my dad was fit to work".

In a statement read to the court, his daughter said: "I am of the firm belief that the issues around my father's fitness to work and the subsequent stopping of his benefits had an adverse effect on his health and led to him taking his own life."

Ms Dooley told the court how her father had been fearing the DWP would stop his allowance ever since he received a letter on July 18 last year calling him for an assessment.

She said she had attempted to calm him down and convince him everything would be OK because she felt there was "no chance" that "a man as poorly as my dad was fit to work".

In a statement read to the court, his daughter said: "I am of the firm belief that the issues around my father's fitness to work and the subsequent stopping of his benefits had an adverse effect on his health and led to him taking his own life."

Ms Dooley told the court how her father had been fearing the DWP would stop his allowance ever since he received a letter on July 18 last year calling him for an assessment.

She said she had attempted to calm him down and convince him everything would be OK because she felt there was "no chance" that "a man as poorly as my dad was fit to work".

Ms Dooley said when she visited him on December 17 last year he was "crying and was really upset about his benefits being stopped".

That night, she said she received a message from her father that simply said "I love you", telling the court: "I knew straight away that something was wrong and that he would harm himself in some way. I did not think he would hang himself."

Image: Kevin Dooley

She tried to give him CPR, the court heard, and he was taken to Leeds General Infirmary in a "comatose state".

Doctor David Moir, a consultant in anaesthetics, described it as an "unsurvivable brain injury".

In the days after his admittance to hospital, he failed to respond when lifted from sedation and he died on December 20 last year.

Ruling that the death had been a suicide, Coroner Jonathan Leach told Ms Dooley: "I am grateful to you for coming and all that is left is for me to pass on my condolences."

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