He saw too much death ser ving in Iraq

sleep. His two long-term partners said he had depression, with outbursts of anger and tears.” In six months from 2014-2015 Aidan took an overdose of Diazepam – the first of four suicide bids. Despite assessments by police and NHS psychiatrists recording that he had symptoms of PTSD, he was not considered high- risk enough to be admitted to hospital.p Desperate for help, he went to A& E at East Surrey Hospita Hospital on March 5, 2015. A psychiatri psychiatric nurse diagnosed PTSD symptom symptoms and five days later the community mental health team assessed him. It took till March 26 to confirm h his referral to a mental hea health practitioner. Du During that time his GP prescribed him an anti-depressants for hi his erratic behaviour. B But his practitioner wa was on holiday till April 8 and he was not reassigned to another case worker. In the early hours of April 8 Aidan’s body was found at Tilgate Park in Crawley, West Sussex.

Angie said: “The medical people knew he’d been in Iraq and should have considered PTSD as a cause of his depression.” She had tried to ring emergency mental health professionals the night before he died but was routed to an answering machine.

Sussex Partnership NHS Trust’s clinical director Dr Brian Solts said: “We investigated the circumstances of Mr Knight’s death and made changes to our services as a result.

“Changes include strengthening our community team by having a person dedicated to managing the referral process. “We are also reviewing and improving our risk assessment process and making sure our acute hospitals have the contact numbers for our services if a person needs help outside working hours. “We’re sorry this did not happen for Mr Knight and offer condolences to his family. We assure them we have learned from this tragic case.” There is a civil claim in place for neglect on behalf of Aidan’s children. In t he Sunday People last week exArmy chief General Lord Dannatt blasted the Government for failing to tackle PTSD adequately.