A DISABLED Kinver man
killed himself after his state benefits were stopped, leaving him "almost
destitute" - a coroner has ruled.
Tim Salter, aged 53, who was partially sighted and suffered from mental health problems, was found hanged at his home just days before he was due to be evicted over rent arrears.
His heartbroken family say he fell behind with payments after the Government axed his state benefits - having declared him fit for work under a new regime geared at getting the long-term unemployed off the dole.
Mr Salter's devastated sister Linda Cooksey said: "It just sent him over the edge.
"He must have felt so worthless and that life wasn't worth living.”
Mr Salter, of Meddins Lane, had been registered partially blind since 1994 after an overdose in 1989 damaged his vision.
Previously he'd worked as an assistant sales manager at Owen Owen in Stourbridge in the 80s but he failed to find further employment after leaving. Depression and the suicide attempt followed, after which he never worked again.
Mrs Cooksey, aged 60, said her brother, who was agoraphobic, “never asked for help” and she never imagined changes to the country’s benefits system would affect him.
Relatives only pieced together his dire predicament after discovering a repossession order from South Staffordshire Housing Association in the bin. Dated September 17 - it had given Mr Salter ten days to leave the home he had lived in all his life.
He committed suicide on September 25, two days before the eviction date.
Stourbridge News
Tim Salter, aged 53, who was partially sighted and suffered from mental health problems, was found hanged at his home just days before he was due to be evicted over rent arrears.
His heartbroken family say he fell behind with payments after the Government axed his state benefits - having declared him fit for work under a new regime geared at getting the long-term unemployed off the dole.
Mr Salter's devastated sister Linda Cooksey said: "It just sent him over the edge.
"He must have felt so worthless and that life wasn't worth living.”
Mr Salter, of Meddins Lane, had been registered partially blind since 1994 after an overdose in 1989 damaged his vision.
Previously he'd worked as an assistant sales manager at Owen Owen in Stourbridge in the 80s but he failed to find further employment after leaving. Depression and the suicide attempt followed, after which he never worked again.
Mrs Cooksey, aged 60, said her brother, who was agoraphobic, “never asked for help” and she never imagined changes to the country’s benefits system would affect him.
Relatives only pieced together his dire predicament after discovering a repossession order from South Staffordshire Housing Association in the bin. Dated September 17 - it had given Mr Salter ten days to leave the home he had lived in all his life.
He committed suicide on September 25, two days before the eviction date.
Stourbridge News
