Borough was hit by shock spike in suicide numbers
● FIGURES have revealed that the suicide rate spiked in Runcorn and Widnes in 2013.
Data published by the Office For National Statistics (ONS) showed there were 18 deaths in the borough attributed to people having taken their own lives, up from eight in 2012.
The number plummeted to five suicides in 2014 and rose slightly to seven in 2015.
The rate in Halton in 2013 was higher than in neighbouring areas Warrington, Cheshire West And Chester, Cheshire East, Knowsley, Liverpool and St Helens.
Over the next two years it plummeted to the lowest among those areas.
For the UK overall, the ONS reported that suicides rose slightly in 2015 from 6,122 in 2014 to 6,188 in 2015.
The male rate fell while the female rate increased to its highest level in a decade.
However, over all age groups, males were three times more likely to take their own life than females.
Of the English regions, Yorkshire and The Humber had the highest suicide rate at 11.6 deaths per 100,000 residents and the east of England had the lowest at 9.3 deaths per 100,000.
Jodie Withers, ONS health analysis and life events, said: “While the increase in the suicide rate this year is a result of an increase in female suicides, males still account for three quarters of all suicides.
“There has also been a continued increase in suicides for males under the age of 30.
“However, these remain lower than the peak seen in the late 1990s and remains significantly lower than the suicide rate for middle-aged males despite falls in recent years.”
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