Father Suicide (return to list)

Michael Easton (U.K.)

NACSA NEWS Sep/Oct 1995

The Daily Express reported on 26 July 1995 that a father-of-seven killed himself after getting a bill for more than £10,000 from the Child Support Agency. An inquest heard that Michael Aston, 48, was found dead in his fume-filled car a day after getting the maintenance arrears demand. He had been told to pay £150 a week for three children from a previous marriage - he had previously paid £3.50 a week per child. But the bill was an interim figure because Mr Aston, of Birmingham, had not properly completed a form stating he was unemployed, the city hearing heard. The arrears could have been written off if he had.