Man killed himself after life became ‘unbearable’

AMAN suffocated himself when his life became unbearable after a stroke, an inquest heard.

John Brereton, 66, could not cope with the disabilities and dizziness caused by the stroke in 2013.

The hearing was told that the illness left the retired factory worker, who previously enjoyed taking long walks, unable to stand.

He was found dead at his home at Tytherington Court, Macclesfield, on May 1 by his son Mark.

Recording a verdict of suicide, Jean Harkin, assistant coroner for Cheshire, said: “It is very clear that he found life unbearable because of the dizziness and disability from the stroke.”

The inquest at Macclesfield town hall heard that Salford-born Mr Brereton’s troubles started when his 25-year-long marriage broke down.

After the divorce he became depressed and suffered a mental breakdown, the inquest was told.

Mr Brereton’s son, Mark, told the hearing that he became so low that he attempted to take his life in 2001 and got treatment at Macclesfield’s Millbrook Unit as a voluntary inpatient. He started to recover and after a couple of years of treatment became more like his old self, Mark told the inquest.

Mr Brereton returned to work as a machinist at a paper mill but in 2008 suffered a serious accident and broke his hip.

Shortly after returning to work he accepted redundancy and retired.

The inquest heard that Mr Brereton had been an active man who walked many miles a day.

But in 2013 he suffered a stroke which left him with visual impairment in both eyes and regular spells of dizziness.

His GP Dr Joanne Leigh, based at Park Green sur- gery, said that, following the stroke, Mr Brereton temporarily reduced medication he was taking for his mental health problems only for him to start to experience ‘unusual ideas’.

On May 1 this year his son, Mark, went to his father’s address at around 10am after he failed to answer his phone.

He said he found him lying in the bedroom.

Mark: “I knew the dizzy spells were getting worse.

“He was getting more and more down.

“He didn’t talk about taking his own life but I didn’t expect that.”

The cause of death determined by a pathologist was suffocation.