A ‘desperate’ man told a GP dealing with 999 callers ‘forget it’ minutes before falling to his death in the Manchester Ship Canal. Andrew Heys had visited the spot the day before, but couldn’t bring himself to jump.
The 29-year-old, from Salford, suffered a severe reaction to a Covid booster vaccine in 2021, an inquest into his death heard. His mental health deteriorated as he battled a life-changing auto-immune disease, relearning how to speak and walk.
Mr Heys’ family watched on as his final hours were explored during a hearing at Bolton Coroners’ Court. Assistant coroner John Pollard said Mr Heys left his Eccles flat the night of March 12, 2024. His mum had been staying with him.
He called for an ambulance in the early hours, before ending a conversation with an on-call doctor. CCTV captured Mr Heys climbing over a bridge guardrail before entering the water.
His body was found by police divers three days later. Counselling manager Rebecca Turner said Mr Heys abandoned a bid to take his own life the day before. “He told me he had gone to the place where he would end his life… he didn’t tell me where,” she added.
Mr Pollard asked Ms Turner: “You were concerned at this point about his keeping himself safe?” She replied: “Yes. We did discuss calling 999, and obviously he did try to reach out.”
Andrew Heys
(Image: Family submit)
Mr Heys, the court heard, called 999 in the early hours. He was triaged by on-call locum GP Dr Naheed Anjum Noor. Dr Noor told the court she didn’t hear everything My Heys said as the line was poor.
A transcript of the call was read to the court. Mr Heys was heard telling Dr Noor: “I’m at the place where I should commit suicide. I came here yesterday, but I didn’t have the courage.”
Dr Noor said: “What I understood from the conversation is that he’s not suicidal.” Mr Pollard said: “But he’s gone to the place where he’s tried to do it yesterday?”
Dr Noor replied: “But I didn’t hear that bit. I wasn’t able to hear most of the conversation because the call was very poor. He ended the call and said ‘forget it’. I thought he didn’t want any help at that time.”
Mr Pollard asked: “It wasn’t that he was saying ‘I’m alright thanks forget it’. He’s told you he’s left the house. You didn’t hear him say ‘I walked out of the house’?”
The GP said she hadn’t, adding: “My understanding was that he doesn’t want to engage anymore… he doesn’t want help anymore.”
The court heard Dr Noor closed the consultation after attempting to call Mr Heys twice more. The call was marked as complete by the North West Ambulance Service.
Asked what she would have done had she heard Mr Heys more clearly, Dr Noor said she would have escalated the call and made it a ‘category two’ – urgent – case.
The court heard Mr Heys entered the water between eight and 10 minutes after his call to Dr Noor ended. The average response for an ambulance on a category two call was 45 minutes at the time.
Sathiya Selvaraja, associate director of clinical services at healthcare provider Bardoc, told the court Dr Noor has since received further training.
Mr Pollard recorded an open conclusion, telling the court there was was insufficient evidence to conclude Mr Heys’ death was a case of suicide and misadventure – or an accident.
“This is a really sad set of events that led to the death of a fit and well and talented young man,” he added. “The pain and embarrassment were such that a previously happy young man was rendered desperate and thinking of ending his own life.”
Mr Pollard said that there wasn’t sufficient proof ‘he deliberately entered the water to end his life’. The coroner added: “There’s not sufficient evidence to prove an accident or misadventure. I can only record what’s known as an open conclusion.”
Mr Pollard spoke of his concerns around the way Mr Heys’ case was handled, telling the court his care ‘seemed to vary between being good to being less than satisfactory’.
Mr Heys’ cause of death was recorded as drowning, with post-vaccination autoimmune encephalopathy a secondary factor