PROBE INTO DEATHS OF ARMY VETS
ARMY chiefs are launching an urgent inquiry into the alarming suicide rate among veterans.
Five ex-servicemen killed themselves in six days.
And figures reveal a total of 42 veterans have taken their own lives this year.
Ministers have been accused of abandoning our troops once they return to “civvy street”.
The research showed that the five who died in the same week had served in campaigns from Northern Ireland to Afghanistan.
Campaigners claim scores of former squaddies and officers have been left to battle crippling post-traumatic stress disorder on their own – with many on long NHS waiting lists.
This year, Army buddies Kevin
Williams, 29, and John Paul Finnigan, 34, took their own lives within months of each other. Kevin was tormented by PTSD after serving in Iraq. He died in March and John Paul 12 weeks later. Jennifer Williams spoke out after her brother’s death in a bid to raise awareness of mental health issues. She said more must be done to help soldiers struggling as they adapt to normal life, adding: “It’s not enough to have a support mechanism in place after they have the problem.” Ministers have now pledged to carry out a study into the “cause of death, including rates of suicide”.
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