Troubled Wigan dad found hanged hours after hospital discharge

Kevin Murphy had told doctors he was suicidal when concerned family members took him to Wigan A&E after he had behaved erratically, sparked a police search after disappearing and taken an overdose of sleeping pills earlier that day.

But after both physical and mental health assessments late at night, the 66-year-old was told that he was going to be discharged and a mental health team would come to his home in Bolney Street, New Springs, the following morning.

However he got up early and went for a walk. Fearing for his welfare, partner Linda Haines followed him at a distance, but he gave her the slip. The police were called when she and Kevin’s daughter Vanessa couldn’t find him but it was walkers who found him hanged in a copse close to Top Lock.

Vanessa and Linda say they told hospital staff that the former Formula Ford driver and Northern Soul DJ was a danger to himself and needed “sectioning” (detained for his own safety) but their pleas went unheeded.

His 37-year-old daughter said: “If Dad hadn’t been sent home that night he would have got the help he so desperately and clearly needed and be here with us now. He knew he was ill and needed help but he was sent home and now we have a tragedy on our hands.

"The doctors failed him and we need to shout this from the rooftops so that it doesn’t happen to someone else.”

Vanessa says Kevin, who ran a car dent repair business, may have had mental health issues all his life due to a “traumatic childhood and previous adult relationship” but he had masked them brilliantly for decades, always seeming the life and soul of the party.

However in the last two months he had appeared very distressed and anxious and so an appointment with a GP was made (with a three-week wait).

He was due at the doctor’s on Friday March 21 and earlier that day he was agitatingly pacing around saying his “brain was racing.” He had not slept for four days and family wondered whether he had a water infection.

But he failed to attend the appointment. The surgery rang to ask where he was and when no-one could find him, the receptionist said she would put a welfare call in to the police.

Officers were mobilised but Kevin then turned up at home at around 5pm, his clothing soiled, and police advised Vanessa to ring the 111 mental health team.

Vanessa said: “Dad was mumbling and there was nothing in his eyes. The person on the phone asked what medication he was on and I picked up the sleeping pills box he had been given and found it empty.

"He admitted he had taken all six of them. We were told he should go to A&E. 999 was dialled but the ambulance was going to take so long that we drove him there.

"He was triaged and at 9pm a doctor examined him and we told him all about Dad’s out-of-character behaviour.

"We told him about Dad’s little book in which he wrote that he didn’t know if his thoughts were dreams or not.

"The doctor asked him if he was feeling suicidal and he said ‘yes.’ And he also said that he was hearing voices."

The doctor said he was there for physical examinations and said they should return to the waiting room while he referred Kevin to the mental health team.

There then followed a long wait during which time Vanessa went home and Kevin’s name was shouted out by a nurse but Linda thought she had said someone else’s name completely.

A nurse eventually rang Vanessa at home asking where her father was, to be told he was still in the waiting room, but filled her in over an eight-minute call about what had happened and the family’s concerns.

The nurse then spoke to Kevin and eventually came out and informed Linda at 4.15am that he was being discharged but mental health experts would visit later that day.

By 9am Kevin was up, had a quick shower and then, bizarrely, was heard breaking up bricks in the garden before telling Linda he was going for a walk.

She was informed of his death shortly after 11am and believes she was standing just yards away from him looking for him when he took his own life.

A file has been sent to the coroner by police who say there are no suspicious circumstances.

Vanessa said: “The signs were there for a long time. My mum Julie wishes she had sent him for counselling years ago and there were other red flags but we dismissed them because we couldn’t make sense of it.

"But things deteriorated badly in recent weeks and the doctors should have known better. We now think that when he disappeared on Friday afternoon that he tried to hang himself then too, but no doctors questioned why his clothes were dirty.

"He was a sensitive, kind and caring soul, with an absolute heart of gold, great on the mic, so many with such fond memories from the soul scene, Wigan Casino and of course, a trailblazer from his nights he ran from February 1996 to July 2000 at Lowton Civic Hall, a mentor to others with the same passion for his beloved Northern soul music.

"He was a true gentleman and friend, he would do anything for anyone, often putting others needs ahead of his own, he’s probably done a job for each one of his friends, helped out in some way no ask or task too big or too small.”

Mental health services at Wigan A&E are handled by Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust.

Its chief nurse Salli Midgley said: “We were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Mr Murphy and send our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. We are currently reviewing the circumstances.”

An inquest into Kevin’s death opened on Monday March 31 at Bolton Coroner’s Court but was then adjourned for the preparation of reports.

If you need to speak to someone, call Samaritans at any time on 116 123.