27 April 2023 , 22:05
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A dad who was found dead in the trailer of his lorry had been "passed from pillar to post" as he tried to get help, said an assistent coroner.
Tributes have poured in for Drew Howe, who lived in Widnes, after he was found in the back of his vehicle on the A18 in Lincolnshire.
An inquest heard he took his own life on October 19 last year, Liverpool Echo reports.
Assistant coroner Chris Morris said at the inquest that he would raise concerns with a mental health trust following Mr Howe's experiences of being "passed from pillar to post" as he tried to get help.
Mr Howe joined the Army in 2015, before being posted to the Queen's Royal Hussars and in total spent four years in the forces before his discharge in 2019.
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He received hospital treatment after having a "breakdown" while in the forces and later told professionals he believed he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as anxiety and depression. However no formal diagnosis was ever made.
Drew pictured with friend Adam Bellis (Liverpool Echo)Mr Howe then began working as an HGV driver but the inquest heard there was a "dramatic deterioration" in his mental health last summer. He had told family members including his sister, Keata Howe, he was feeling depressed while also seeking help from mental health services in Stockport, where he was born.
The inquest was told there were "at least two other occasions" when he had been taken to hospital in Lincolnshire after "reporting intentions to take his life".
Fighting back tears in the witness box, his sister Keata, said: "Just a few months before he did what he did he came out and told us he was feeling depressed and he needed help and we did what we could to help him."
She added: "But he never talked about what he was going through. I never saw him as having depression. Every time I saw him he seemed dead bubbly, he was always laughing and joking around. He was a joker."
Following a consultation with his GP in August last year, Mr Howe was referred to what was then Healthy Minds service for potential talking therapies.
Drew Howe with friend Josh McLean (Handout)Staff deemed him to be "not stable enough" for such therapy and referred him to the access team run by Pennine Care NHS Foundation trust, based at Stepping Hill hospital, which assessed him on October, 13, six days before his death.
Following a consultation with a psychiatrist, nurses referred him on once more, to a specialist Military Veterans Service run by the trust. Mr Howe was awaiting an assessment at the time of his death and a referral was received eight days after his death.
He was discharged by the access team without a formal diagnosis or treatment plan being drawn up, the hearing was told. Toxicology tests found there was an 'extremely low' level of alcohol, and no illicit drugs, in his system.
Mr Morris concluded it was most likely Mr Howe's "circumstances didn't fit neatly within the paradigm in which services were being offered."
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He told the hearing: "I can only imagine he felt passed from pillar to post having recounted his difficulties on a number of occasions."
Mr Morris said there was an "absence of critical analysis" in an investigation report carried out by Pennine Care particularly around "the delivery of services from patients' perspective". And he described it as a "missed opportunity" to learn all available lessons.
Close friend Adam Bellis told the Liverpool Echo: "I met him about two and half, three years ago. I just met him through the trucks basically.
"We parked up in the same place one night and the lads I was with at the time that I knew, knew Drew and he just came to the pub with us all and it went from there. We hit it off and became best mates."
He added: "It's such a shock to us all because he was such a bubbly character and he was dead lively all the time"
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