Teacher's tribunal costs suicide

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/wales/south_west/6959403.stm

Version 0 of 1.

A chronically-depressed teacher stabbed himself to death believing he was ruined after losing an industrial tribunal, a Swansea inquest was told.

David Williams, 54, of Mumbles, Swansea wrongly believed he owed £120,000 after a 2005 case for constructive dismissal.

He killed himself at a local beauty spot when he was allowed home from psychiatric care last September.

The inquest heard he believed he would have to sell his home to pay, but it emerged later the costs were £40,000.

Mr Williams, a father-of-two, was suspended as head of chemistry at Bishopston Comprehensive in Swansea in December 2002, after a "rift" with staff over the way he worked.

He later resigned and launched an action for constructive dismissal, the inquest heard.

'Quite irrational'

That tribunal took place in Cardiff in 2003 but Mr Williams lost and was ordered to pay the costs.

The teacher began to worry obsessively about how much he would have to pay, believing he would have to sell his £250,000 home, the inquest was told.

By last August he had become so desperate he visited National Union of Teachers area secretary Peggy George and asked to borrow £120,000.

Swansea coroner Philip Rogers said Ms George told the inquest that he was "quite irrational about the whole thing.

"She said that he had come to the figure of £120,000 because that was about half the value of his home.

"He had this irrational thought in his mind that it would cost him £120,000 which is why he asked for that amount.

The teacher was head of chemistry at the school

"She said that when he left his final words had been 'Christine and the girls would be better off if I was dead'," the coroner added.

Within hours, the inquest was told Mr Williams was admitted to a Swansea psychiatric unit where he tried to drown himself in the bath.

Five days later, on 10 September last year, he was allowed home where he ate a final Sunday lunch with his wife, Christine.

He then walked to a beauty close to the school where he had worked and stabbed himself in the neck, face and head.

Mr Rogers told the inquest Mr Williams death was caused by bleeding from the heart. An indirect cause of death was depression.

The coroner recorded a verdict of suicide.