Two parents said their lives were forever changed one Sunday when they were visited by two police officers just months after their son started university.
Lindsay and Alan Gilbert were visited by officers on April 14, 2024, after their son, Matthew, was involved in a tragic accident and was left battling for his life after being airlifted to hospital by Wales Air Ambulance.
The 19-year-old, who had recently relocated to study law and criminology at Swansea University in his first year, had fallen from the sixth-floor window of a halls of residence campus.
A day prior, Mrs Gilbert had driven her son back to Swansea after a brief stay at home, during which he shared his dreams and ambitions of becoming a police officer upon completing his studies. Mrs Gilbert told WalesOnline: “People have been very kind and we’ve had a massive amount of support from family, and also friends who live locally, and all the people who knew Matthew when he was little.
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Matthew pictured with his parents and his sister
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Family of Matthew Gilbert)
“On Sunday morning, Alex, his sister, was with her boyfriend, so it was just me and Alan. Alan answered the door at around 10.20am and it was the police. They said ‘there’s no easy way to tell you this, but Matthew fell from the sixth floor. He’s very poorly and is in surgery as we speak and we don’t know if he will pull through’.
“It was a massive shock. I just remember thinking: ‘He fell from the sixth floor, how did he fall from the sixth floor? And how is he still alive? I called Alex and she came straight back. A neighbour took us to the University of Wales Hospital in Cardiff. When we got there, they took us into a room and explained the extent of his injuries, starting at the top and working their way down.
Matthew pictured with mum Lindsay, sister Alex and dad Alan
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Family of Matthew Gilbert)
“They said he was very, very poorly and had lost both of his eyes. I remember that being just horrendous. They told us he was out of surgery, and in intensive care, and they warned us it was a very tough place for him to be, and he didn’t look anything like Matthew because of the extent of his injuries.
“We were told the next 48 hours would be a case of, would he survive. They didn’t think he would. Alex and I went to the intensive care unit to sit with him, and it was just incredible. There were eight people all around his bed. The first week, they hadn’t given up by any stretch, then on the Wednesday he went in for more surgery, and the next stage was going to be a tracheostomy. He was due to go in on the Friday, but when they went to move him, all of his stats went badly wrong. They left him at the weekend and decided to do it on the Monday.”
The incident took place at the Penmaen residence at Swansea University’s Singleton campus
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Mr Gilbert’s family went home for a change of clothes before returning, but when they returned, they said “things were just different.” Mrs Gilbert added: “They were concerned about his brain, they did a load of scans and tests, and then on the Wednesday the consultant told us the results were dreadful, and that if he survived, he would be in a vegetative state.
“They told us they were going to stop treatment, and he passed away just before midnight. We sat with him when it happened.
“We’re lucky that we have each other. You can’t just give up, you have to try and keep going. It affects each of you in different ways. We just have to process it individually. You’d think it would get less painful over time, but I don’t think it does.
“Obviously, we’ve just had to go through Christmas, and new year, so I understand all those first hurdles and anniversaries are hard, but I find personally that I don’t want time to pass. People are always saying ‘You’ll be glad when it’s next year and when you can put this year behind you’, but actually it’s the opposite, I’d go back to that intensive care unit in a second to be with him, and the longer time goes on, the longer its been since we had him with us.”
Matthew with friends on a fishing trip
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Family of Matthew Gilbert)
An inquest into his death at Swansea’s Guildhall revealed on the day of the accident, April 14, 2024, he was in “a confused a distressed state” after taking recreational drugs and had “forced the window open” at Penmaen residential block at the Singleton campus of Swansea University. The inquest heard how he had broken the window “opening a restrictor in the process” and due to his confused state did not know the height of the window when he exited through it.
Mr Gilbert’s medical cause of death was listed as hypoxic ischaemic cerebral injury caused by multiple injuries including complex facial fractures and pulmonary contusions. Senior coroner for Swansea, Aled Gruffydd, ruled the death as accidental.
Reflecting on her son’s character, Mrs Gilbert shared: “He was a very bright lad, and funny, and kind. One of the themes that kept coming up in his funeral was that he was very much about supporting the underdog – often to his own detriment. He always wanted to do good. It was the same at school. If he thought anyone was being cruel or behaving badly, he’d do what he could to put it right.
“In one of the last conversations I had with him, I was taking him back to Swansea after he had returned home, and he told me, mum, I don’t know if I’m cut out to be an associate or a lawyer, I’m thinking more about joining the police. He said: ‘I’d quite like to be a detective, but I don’t think I could bare putting anyone behind bars’.”
Mr Gilbert’s family has spawned a fundraising initiative to raise donations for the Wales Air Ambulance.