A woman who committed suicide last year was suffering from ‘considerable anxiety and stress’ thanks to the ‘bedroom tax’, a coroner has ruled.
Stephanie Bottrill, 53, last year died after walking in front of a lorry on the M6, having left a note blaming the Government for her actions. The move sparked further national outrage about the controversial benefit reform.
It is understood that in a letter to her son, Bottrill wrote: ‘Don’t blame yourself for me ending my life. The only people to blame are the Government.’
She told her doctor that she couldn’t cope with the stress and felt pressured to make a decision about moving from her three-bedroom council house in the West Midlands, an inquest in Birmingham heard.
Dr Bindu Nair said: ‘She expressed unhappiness at being pushed by the housing department to make a decision in half an hour, in reference to being made to move into a smaller property.’ He added the process had put Bottrill under ‘considerable anxiety and stress’.
Coroner Zafar Siddique ruled that given the ‘evidence of notes’, he was ‘satisfied she intended to take her own life’.
After the inquest, Bottrill’s brother Kevin Owens said it was incorrect to suggest the ‘bedroom tax’ had pushed her to suicide as she had previously tried to kill herself.
‘It might have been the catalyst to push her but, was it just an excuse she was looking for?’ he said.
A spokesperson for Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council said there was ‘never a requirement for Ms Bottrill to move’.
The local authority also denied hurrying Bottrill into making a decision. ‘It was never a situation where she would have been asked to make a decision in half an hour," the spokesperson added.
A spokesperson for the Department of Work and Pensions said: ‘This is a tragic case and our sympathies are with the family of Mrs Bottrill. The council was working closely and supporting Mrs Bottrill with the changes.’
