Dad's suicide after daughter denied school place

10:06am Thursday 1st May 2008

A distraught father threw himself under a train because he thought he had failed to get his daughter into her chosen secondary school.

Surveyor Steve Don, 43, believed his inability to secure a place for his 11yearold daughter made him an "unfit" parent.

The desperate father, who had no history of depression, handed the girl over to social services before diving into the path of an oncoming train at a level crossing ten miles from the family home in Brighton, an inquest heard.

On the day of his suicide in September 2005 Mr Don told his wife: "They would not listen to me alive. Perhaps they will if I was dead".

But at 5pm the same afternoon Brighton and Hove City Council education bosses had backed down and awarded the girl a place at a school just a few minutes' walk from her home.

His frantic wife, Lorraine Wilson, 44, told him the news over the phone but he refused to believe it.

Less than two hours later, he was dead. The family had wanted their daughter to go to the nearby Dorothy Stringer School in Loder Road, Brighton, but the daughter had been placed at Falmer High School - five miles from their home at the time, in Varndean Road, and two bus rides away.

Mr Don was unhappy about the fact that her journey to school could take an hour. At the 11th hour the council offered the girl a place at Varndean School in Balfour Road, Brighton, which was much closer to the family home.

In a statement read by coroner Alan Craze, Mrs Wilson, an office manager, said: "The last time I spoke to him was when he rang me at about 5.50pm. "He said, No one is speaking to me.

They're not returning my calls. I'm going to carry out my threat. ' "He did take his life and this was due to the LEA not agreeing to meet him to discuss issues with placing our daughter in a suitable school. They would not return his calls. "Social services also told him and me that if he was serious he would have done it by now. This comment did not help and he told me he did mean it.

"Social services branded him as having mental problems. They told me and my daughter this."

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: "It's a tragic case but we're not aware any individuals in social services said such a thing."

The driver of the 6.25pm train to Eastbourne, Gary Humphrey, watched in horror as Mr Don ran out from behind bushes.

He disappeared under the train at the Loover Barn crossing at Glynde, near Lewes.

In a statement, Mr Humphrey said: "He appeared from the bushes and was scrambling up the area between the near side left track and the bank. "He looked towards me then dived across the rails. I didn't see him land on the rail.

"I felt very shocked as there was nothing I could do to avoid the collision. When he dived I realised what his intention was. It was a deliberate action."

Recording a verdict of suicide, East Sussex Coroner Mr Craze said: "I have made a decision not to hold an inquiry into matters relating to the decision as to which secondary school this particular child should go to.

"As I understand it at some stage during the afternoon, faced with the threat of suicide, a junior person at the LEA decided to change their minds and offer the place.

"Mr Don would not accept this from a junior person and wanted to hear it from the head of education and nobody else."

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: "Mr Don's death occurred after we'd told him that we could offer him a place at one of his preferred schools.

"We took this decision taking into account concerns for the welfare of Mr Don and his family. "Although we are not in a position to say what the exact cause of Mr Don's death was, we do not accept that it was because of our school admissions policies.

"The reason his original preferences were turned down was because he'd sent his form in after our published deadline. Our rules clearly say we have to consider all applications that come in by deadline before late ones.

"The coroner did not require us to attend the inquest, and we take this as indicating that the coroner did not consider our actions to be a key factor either."

Editor's Choice