A MARRIED couple have been found dead in their Bedworth home following an apparent tragic suicide pact.
Mark and Helen Mullins were found lying side by side in their home in Henson Road, Bedworth.
Friends have spoken of the tragic couple’s struggle to access the correct benefits – leaving them living “hand to mouth” on food handouts from a Coventry soup kitchen which they walked five miles to each week.
Now charity workers are demanding to know how the “wonderful couple” were able to slip through the net and not get the support they needed from the state.
Police are investigating the deaths, which they say are being treated as “unexplained” at this stage.
Those who knew the couple believe they may have been there for up to two weeks before neighbours and relatives raised the alarm.
Salvation Army leader and leading Coventry charity worker Kervin Julien met the couple after they walked from Bedworth to Coventry to eat at a soup kitchen he ran in the city centre.
He said the pair made the 10-mile round trip on foot every week to eat and pick up a handout of food to take home.
Kervin told the Telegraph: “Mark talked about the difficulties they were having accessing the correct benefits. He also talked about the authorities taking Helen’s daughter away from her but not acknowledging her mental health problems.
“I did see Mark two or three weeks ago. He was really upset. He said he and Helen had been staying with relatives and friends to try and avoid the authorities, as they believed they wanted to section Helen.
“Mark was absolutely devoted to Helen and didn’t want to be separated from her – they just wanted support.
“I don’t agree with their decision but these were two people asking for help, and separation wasn’t an option.
“The question needs to be asked – why was it they felt they had no-one else to turn to that they decided on the course of action they did?
"It’s sad that in this day and age we have still got prehistoric services that are not meeting the needs of the people who need them.
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
Bedworth 'suicide pact' couple found lying side-by-side - Coventry News - News - Coventry Telegraph
