A 30-year old Rugby league player of Wigan, Greater Manchester,
Anthony Hughes has committed suicide shortly after his fiancée of four
years called off their engagement.
His friends have described him has a fun loving man, who loved all and
was loved by all, but the only problem he had was depression. Before
finally succeeding to take his life now, Hughes was caught some time
ago by the Police trying to snuff life out of himself with a tie.
Sadly, his fiancée who 'made' him take his life in this last suicide
attempt, said the major reason why she left him after four years was
because of this same thing- Depression. Her words;
"We had our problems as people do. He did have down periods and up
periods with the depression which we worked through.
"There was a strain because of his problems and around the end of May
we decided to have a trial separation where I moved back to my
parents' house.
"Around July 6 I decided the relationship couldn't continue. I still
saw him but he didn't take it well at all. I saw him and he was really
upset.
"He didn't go to work that week and he was really down but I stayed
with him on Monday 7 then went to work on the Tuesday.
"He was still upset and wasn't going to work. During that day I
received texts from him and some of those stated he intended to harm
himself.
"He also threatened to kill himself during the texts. I didn't think
he was being serious.
"I saw him on Wednesday July 9 and he seemed a lot more positive. He
text me at six o'clock the next morning and said he had been up all
night and it was as if he finally accepted the relationship was over.
"He was apologising, saying 'I'm sorry for everything'. Looking back,
it seems he had made the decision - but he wasn't making threats like
he had been.
"He rang me at about 12.20pm when I was at work. We spoke for about a
minute and I said I would ring him back later.
"He paused for a while and said 'bye' and that was it. I tried to ring
him as soon as I could but couldn't get hold of him.
"He was very troubled by depression but from around November to May he
had made lots of progress and was mostly back to his usual self - but
when we had a falling-out he went right back down to rock-bottom."
His mom also explains what she knows;
''He was the perfect son. He was very active and enjoyed sports,
especially rugby league. In his job he helped a lot of young people
and found it very rewarding.
"His depression started around the time he broke up with his son's
mum. He became more withdrawn, his work suffered.
"Before that he never felt sad at any time, he couldn't process that
feeling. He was happy-go-lucky and succeeded in everything he did but
then everything just turned upside down for him."
"He and Charlotte were planning to be married but his last bout of
depression came on so severely. I don't think any of us could see it
coming.
"He had been getting on with his life. He came to me and it had been
going on because he and Charlotte had split up which had been brought
on with his depression.
"He came to see me and told me he was going to do it. He told me he
was going to kill himself.
"We had arranged an appointment with the mental health crisis team for
the earliest time we could. My last contact with him was a text on the
day he died where he asked me not to go to his address."
Is this a case of carelessness on the part of family and friends?
