Rustington man couldn’t cope with ex-wife’s Alzheimer’s

A ‘larger than life’ Rustington father took his own life after struggling to cope with caring for his sick ex-wife, an inquest heard.
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Gary White, 57, was found dead in his home in Dingley Road on August 4 of this year.

An inquest, held in Durrington on Thursday, heard that although Mr White had been divorced from his wife, he moved back in to care for her in 2009 when she developed Alzheimer’s disease.

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A statement from his daughter, read out at the inquest, said: “He found it very difficult to look after his wife and tended not to look to the future, but took each day as it came.”

He began to suffer boughts of depression and anxiety in his 40s, but these were ‘short periods which came and went, but he would still get on with his life’, his daughter said.

Mr White had run a successful chauffeur business locally and was a ‘larger than life person and once he put his mind to something he would always go through with it’.

The inquest heard that although his wife was eventually placed into residential care, Mr White continued to feel depressed despite trying to make changes to his life.

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Passing a verdict of suicide, coroner Christopher Wilkinson said: “It does appear he was a larger than life person who had the mind-set that if he decided to do something he would do so.

“It is clear to me this was set against a chronic history of depression and anxiety dating back to 1993.

“It would appear very sadly the difficulties he had experienced in dealing with his former wife’s condition and the stress that put on himself and his family was too much for him to bear.”

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