‘My son would still be alive if it wasn’t for lockdown’
A HEARTBROKEN mother told yesterday how she found her 14-yearold son hanged during lockdown after he felt ‘isolated’ because he could not go out with his friends.
Tracey Tyler believes sport-loving Sam, the eldest of her three sons, would still be alive if school hadn’t been cancelled, leaving him without a normal routine.
The healthcare support worker said Sam had been ‘laughing and joking’ while playing online games with friends when she left home for a shift on a hospital coronavirus ward in May.
But when she returned she found the schoolboy dead upstairs.
Four months on, Mrs Tyler, 40, has shared Sam’s devastating story in the hope it could save other children’s lives. She is urging parents to ‘ask the awkward questions’ as she believes a five-minute conversation with their children could be enough to save some from suicide.
The mother of three, from Bedworth, Warwickshire, is also hoping the Government will not impose a second national
‘There was no note or anything’
lockdown to spare children from further suffering. Mrs Tyler, who is separated from the father of her children Sam, Nathan, 11, and Daniel, nine, said her eldest son felt ‘isolated’ during the lockdown, but had been making plans to go fishing with friends when restrictions were eased.
When she left home on the night of Sam’s death, he was talking to friends about booking a coach trip to the seaside after lockdown. Mrs Tyler said: ‘That’s what they were talking about. He just said [to them], “I’ll be back in two seconds”, then never went back online.
‘I do believe if he’d been at school, in a routine, it wouldn’t have happened.’
Her younger children were staying with their father on the night Sam died and Mrs Tyler had taken an extra shift to help out during the coronavirus pandemic.
She added: ‘Knowing my child has chosen to end his life, without leaving us any explanation, is hard. It’s tough.
‘There was no note or anything. My heart is broken.’
For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123, go to a branch or visit Samaritans.org