The mother of a Chester soldier who killed himself by jumping on to the M56 publicly asked his ex-girlfriend if she was ‘getting any enjoyment’ from his death.
Her outburst came after Molly Fleming had been explaining to a Warrington inquest how she had been on the phone trying to talk down Private Alex Jones, 21, from a bridge near Ellesmere Port.
During the conversation Private Jones, who was stationed with the Mercian Regiment at Dale Barracks, threw himself from Rake Lane bridge onto the carriageway.
He died of blunt force trauma after being hit by three lorries with the lead driver left so traumatised he was unable to attend the inquest.
Yvonne Duke, mother of Private Jones, questioned her son’s ex-girlfriend Miss Fleming over whether she had considered ringing the emergency services during the incident which concluded in the early hours of July 29, 2015.
Miss Fleming explained: “I couldn’t get off the phone to him. I knew as soon as I got off the phone to him he would do it. I was in the heat of the moment.”
Mrs Duke, who had been permitted by the coroner to pose questions, asked: “Are you glad he’s gone, Molly?”
A tearful Miss Fleming denied this was the case. ”Are you sure?” continued Mrs Duke. ”Are you getting any enjoyment from the death?”
A woman in the public gallery shouted: “I don’t think that’s fair.” A man shouted: “That’s disgusting.”
They accompanied Miss Fleming out of the room as she sobbed.
Mrs Duke then apologised to Cheshire coroner Nicholas Rheinberg.
Miss Fleming had earlier agreed with the coroner that her long term relationship with the deceased had been ‘volatile’, with constant arguments, break-ups and reconciliations. She conceded there had been violence ‘on both sides’.
She recounted two incidents in which Mr Jones had self-harmed using razor blades in December 2014 and again on July 12 last year, about two weeks before his death.
Miss Fleming had agreed to take responsibility for the second incident as Private Jones was worried the cuts would be spotted by colleagues and feared this may lead to his discharge from the Army.
She texted him to this effect which he later produced as evidence during assessments with army medics to explain away his injuries.
Miss Fleming then recalled the last phone call she received from Mr Jones as he threatened to jump from a bridge between junctions 16 and 15 on the Manchester-bound carriageway of the M56.
She said: “I received a phone call about 10.15pm and it was him saying he was on a motorway bridge.
Deceased had 'nothing to live for'
“At this point I started panicking. He said he didn’t have anything to live for. He felt like he had no one. Nothing was going right.
“He said he had a pack of paracetamol with him. He’d drank Sailor Jerry’s and I was begging him to get down. He wasn’t listening.
“He was telling me about all these plans he had. I was just saying to him, 'you’ve got all these things to do, just do them, stay for it, you’ve got your family'.”
She continued: ”He referenced a song that I knew really well. The lyrics were ‘My legs are dangling off the edge’ and he said my legs are quite literally dangling off the edge. I kept on pleading with him.
“Then he said ‘I love you’. ‘I love you too’ and he went ‘good’ and then I just heard a load of wind, the phone drop and then some sort of, I don’t know if it was a scream.”
Private Jones’ mother told the inquest her Doncaster-born son, whom she knew as ‘Lex’, had served in Afghanistan and Kenya.
She said: “He was very proud to be a soldier, he loved to wear his uniform, very proud, as we were of him, fighting for his country.”
But while her son was happy in his career and apparently ‘carefree’, she agreed he was unhappy in his relationship although he never confided the true extent of his feelings.
A toxicology report found the deceased had consumed a high level of alcohol and there was evidence he had taken paracetamol.
Hand-written notes were later found in his car parked in Rake Lane close to the bridge from which he jumped.
Suicide verdict
Reaching a verdict of suicide, the coroner said of the deceased’s personal relationship: “It clearly wasn’t good for Alex and for all I know it was not good for his girlfriend Molly. The relationship waxed and waned with splits and then they would get back together again.
“Clearly this troubled Alex more, I think, than anyone imagined because to the outside world he was a happy-go-lucky individual.”
Tragically, Mr Rheinberg said the deceased had been under the ‘mistaken’ impression that he would be discharged from the army if he had reported the incidents of self-harm.
But the coroner had learned from the investigation that in reality he may actually have received the ‘help and support’ he required to continue in his chosen career.
If you have been affected by issues raised in this story, you can contact the PAPYRUS HOPELineUK helpline services 0800 068 41 41, text 07786 209 697 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org to support suicidal young people and others who may be concerned about them.
