Ben was tortured by war
Ben Riches was a hero. Stationed in Iraq from November 2007, he once selflessly gave his last sandbag to the driver of his military vehicle - it ended up saving his life.
Five years later, his body was tragically found at his home on Lindel Road. He was just 30 years old. But Ben believed he had killed someone during battle, said his brother Steven Riches, describing a time when Ben came under enemy fire. Steven added: "The belief that he had taken a life even though it was during battle played heavily on his mind."
He lost the promotion, which his brother said would not have sat well with him, and there were incidents of either a disciplinary or criminal nature, such as him losing his driving licence due to drink driving. Ben received psychological therapy and reported disturbing dreams, but these then lessened. Julie Wisely, the clinical psychologist who saw him, said he turned down treatment for trauma and was without recurrent dreams when discharged with a request from Ms Wisely for psychological follow up.
Alcohol could have caused Ben to be depressed and there were episodes of paranoia, such as when he would lock himself in the house, although Professor Gilvarry queried whether Ben was actually alcohol-dependent as he didn’t display withdrawal symptoms when he stopped drinking.
Things worsened and, on March 22, 2019, in the weeks before Ben took his own life, he was found again at the beach, having walked into the sea , and posted about it around the same time on Facebook. The veteran was taken by police to A&E at Blackpool Victoria Hospital under the Mental Health Act, and even tried to self-harm en route.
Ben was found hanged at home weeks later in the early hours of April 11, 2019, the inquest heard, after returning home from seeing friends and telling a friend to whom he had sent a WhatsApp message just after midnight that there was "no point" and he intended to kill himself. Senior Coroner Dr James Adeley recorded a narrative verdict at the end of the three-day hearing, concluding that Ben took his own life at home due to hanging while intoxicated.
Dr Adeley noted that Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust had since improved their systems in some areas and said they needed to do more to address the needs of veterans, adding that he would be writing to the trust to ask for an explanation about referral systems within their own trust and to Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Describing Ben’s family as "absolutely broken", Ben’s mum Carolyn Riches said: “We need to break the stigma that surrounds mental health. Hopefully, the lessons have been learned and the mistakes that have happened with Ben will bring change and help prevent another family from going through what our family has gone through.”
"He appeared to have a promising career but then went downhill. It happens with so many soldiers, so that’s got to be looked at. It’s no good saying, they’re drinking too much - Ben was drinking with his comrades and they were all the same - and then with Ben it became a decline as he was drinking to forget."
“It has been very difficult to listen to the evidence about Ben’s mental health challenges and his struggles with alcohol, but it is clear to us that these ran side by side for Ben and that this is common in other veterans.
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