Suicide of Red Arrows pilot, 62, who couldn’t adjust to a slower life
A FORMER Red Arrows pilot who flew fighter jets in the aftermath of the Falklands war killed him-self because he couldn’t cope with retirement fol-lowing his adrenaline-fuelled career.
Peter Collins, 62, spent 18 years with the Royal Air Force, flying sea harrier jets off HMS illustrious after the conflict with Argentina, before being promoted to the prestigious Red Arrows aero-batic display team.
he went on to become argua-bly the world’s most prolific test pilot – flying more than 10,000 hours in 119 different aircraft – for the RAF and military firms.
But Mr Collins, a married father-of-three, struggled with life after deciding to enter semi-retirement and launch his own business in 2015.
he became depressed and hanged himself in a hotel room last August.
An inquest was told that Mr Collins had attempted suicide three weeks earlier, but was dis-covered by his daughter, sab-rina, and rushed to hospital.
Although his family were aware of his fragile mental state, they were baffled by his death because he had decided to return to work.
his wife, gudrun, 55, told War- rington Coroner’s Court how her devoted husband had become increasingly anxious after semi-retiring and regretted his deci-sion to ground himself. ‘he was anxious, thinking he had made the wrong decision,’ she said. ‘he was not coping with the changes. he was worried about the future.’
Mrs Collins, who runs a sports injury clinic, said they had dis-cussed what would happen if Mr Collins was unable to find work to support his family.
But she said they would have been able to ‘tighten their belts’ and he was worrying too much.
Mrs Collins said there was no indication of what was to come when he left home in Bury st edmunds, suffolk, on August 21, 2016, to travel to Cheshire for work. she added: ‘he was going back to work to do a job he loved. his death was a total sur-prise for us.’
Mrs Collins told the inquest she last received a text from her husband on August 23 at 6.15pm. The following morning he failed to turn up for a briefing at Raytheon UK, an aerospace and defence firm based at hawarden Airport, north Wales, where he had worked for more than a decade.
A colleague alerted staff at the holiday inn, Chester, where he was staying, and his body was found hanging by the housekeeper.
A GP report read to the inquest, from Dr gemma Atkins, said Mr Collins had seen a doc-tor complaining of sudden weight loss and anxiety. he was given anti-anxiety medication.
Just three weeks before he died, his daughter had found him unresponsive at home with an apparent suicide note and called an ambulance.
he came around in the ambu-lance and said he had drunk two bottles of whisky.
The GP report also said Mr Collins was treated at the Priory clinic in 2002 for depression.
his Raytheon colleague Rich-ard houghton told the inquest that the ‘loud and very full of life’ Mr Collins seemed quieter than usual when he helped test aircraft on August 22 and 23.
A toxicology report concluded that Mr Collins had consumed the equivalent of a couple of pints of beer or glasses of wine in the hours before his death, while the post-mortem examination found that the cause of death was hanging.
Recording a conclusion of sui-cide, nicholas Rheinberg, senior coroner for Cheshire, said: ‘Mr Collins was a successful man and had a long career. he made a decision to retire but it is clear he regretted that decision. i am satisfied he took his own life.’
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‘He was worried about the future’