Officer took his own life after turning down help for PTSD
Scots veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan feared getting treatment would harm Army career
A SCOTS soldier suffering PTSD killed himself after refusing psychological help in case it jeopardised his chances of promotion, an inquest has heard.
Warrant Officer Robert ‘Rab’ McAvoy experienced serious difficulties readjusting after he returned from his second tour of Afghanistan in 2014.
The 39-year-old had been prescribed anti-depressants for post-traumatic stress disorder after he attempted to take his own life in August 2014.
But Warrant Officer McAvoy, originally from Netherthird, Ayrshire, came off the medication and refused to seek any help for his PTSD from the Army’s welfare team because he did not want to be ‘downgraded’ for mental health problems. His widow, Emma, said he feared it would affect his chances of promotion.
Then last year Warrant Officer McAvoy’s father died, followed by the untimely death of his older brother, John.
He declined more help from the Army’s welfare service and on March 26 this year disappeared after leaving his home on a military base at Bovington, Dorset, to get a haircut.
Mrs McAvoy, 37, later received ‘concerning’ text messages from her husband that prompted her to contact the police and report him missing.
He also sent a heartbreaking text to his mother asking her to look after his wife and saying he was ‘sorry’ and he loved her.
A friend, a fellow Army officer who was not named, discovered Warrant Officer McAvoy’s Land Rover parked in a clearing in woodland near Dorchester, about eight miles from his home.
His body was found a short distance away and a post-mortem examination confirmed the cause of death as hanging.
The inquest into Warrant Officer McAvoy’s case comes only days after the Government announced the setting up of an Office for Veterans’ Affairs to help exservice men and women obtain access to medical treatment, training and housing.
Warrant Officer McAvoy served in the Royal Engineers for more than 20 years, carrying out two tours of Iraq and Afghanistan.
But after returning from his second trip to Afghanistan, the father of one was put on a sixmonth course of the anti-depressant sertraline by the Army’s welfare team in Germany, where he was stationed with his wife, after he overdosed on pills and alcohol.
But when the couple returned to the UK, the veteran soldier refused to go back on the medication or seek any more help.
Mrs McAvoy told the hearing: ‘I could tell if he hadn’t taken one of the tablets. He wanted to come off them because he didn’t want to be downgraded for mental health problems.
‘He loved being a soldier. He didn’t want it to affect any promotion in the future and that’s why he took himself off [anti-depressants]. He would have presented and said he was fine, but he wasn’t fine.’
Mrs McAvoy said her husband of 11 years went to Iraq in 2003 and 2008 and a first tour of Afghanistan in 2013. She fought back tears as she told the Bournemouth inquest of the evening her husband disappeared.
She said: ‘He came home, gave me a kiss and asked what was for dinner. He got changed and came back downstairs, said “put the pasta on, I’ll text when I’m leaving Dorchester [where he said he was going for a haircut].
‘He gave me a kiss, patted the dog and that was it.’
Following Warrant Officer McAvoy’s death, the Army reviewed his case and produced a report known as a ‘learning account’. In a
‘He gave me a kiss and that was it’
statement, the Army’s unit welfare officer Amanda Walmsley said Warrant Officer McAvoy was directed to the welfare team following the death of his father, but did not make contact.
Mr Middleton recorded a verdict of suicide.
He said: ‘I don’t believe the Army have made any error. They have gone through very thoroughly what happened.’
Lieutenant Colonel Chris Rotchell, who represented the British Army at the inquest, said : ‘I would like to pass on again on behalf of the Ministry of Defence and the Army our condolences.’
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