ANGUISHED MESSAGE BEFORE TAKING HIS OWN LIFE
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Staff Sergeant Jamie Ferguson made a video recording moments before he took his own life on June 18 and said: “I asked for help but no one was listening. They didn’t understand.”
The 36-year- old veteran of multiple tours to Iraq and Afghanistan then shot himself after making the recording at the Leuchars military base in Fife. A further two suicides took place at the base last year.
And since the start of lockdown, at least 14 serving and former armed forces personnel are believed to have taken their own lives.
Now his widow Sammi, who lives in Kirkcaldy, is calling for the Ministry of Defence and the Government to take responsibility for the surge in the number of tragedies.
Mum-of-three Sammi, 50, said: “My husband asked for help but was ignored. The MoD is in denial over military suicides.
“How many more soldiers and veterans need to die before the MoD does something?
“The MoD’s behaviour over military suicides is a scandal. The Government should be ashamed of themselves. These are soldiers who were mentally traumatised in the service of this country and have been disowned by the MoD.
“My message to the Army and the MoD is, ‘Please stop relying on charities to deal with your mental health problems.’
“It shouldn’t be for a charitable organisation to deal with mentally wounded soldiers. It’s the MoD’s job. There will be Army wives who think their husbands are f ine but are planning to kill themselves.”
Jamie, or ig ina l ly f rom Leicestershire, joined the Army at 16 and served for more than 20 years. He was a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps and served with the SAS between 2008 and 2012.
Sammi, who was married to Jamie for more than 13 years and had a son with him, as well as two daughters from a previous marriage, said her husband had been treated for an acute stress disorder, which often leads to PTSD.
He developed the condition after serving on an Army anti-poaching operation in Malawi last May. During the mission, Guardsman Mathew Talbot, 22, was trampled to death by a rogue elephant while on patrol in Liwonde National Park.
Sammi described the incident as “supertraumatic” for Jamie and said an inquest into the death had also affected him.
She added: “Jamie fought for two hours to try to keep Matt alive. There was no doctor with them so Jamie had to deal with it all on his own. When he came home, I could see he was tense. I encouraged him to speak to his GP – an Army doctor on the base – to make su r e he was OK. He was