The OP Society has learned through the pages of the Southern Daily Echo newspaper that Richard Babbington Clark (87-90), who was in Illawarra division, died on Christmas Day 2019. He was 45.

Six years earlier, according to the newspaper report, Richard’s wife gave birth to a daughter in Winchester. The birth was said to be ‘traumatic’ and in the years following Mrs. Clark was diagnosed with postnatal psychosis. Early in 2019 Mr. Clark decided that he needed support from the mental health services and turned to the NHS. A referral was refused so he turned to the private sector, whilst struggling to secure the right NHS care for his wife.

In a statement following an inquest into Richard’s death, his parents said: “He tried extremely hard to care for his wife. They failed to get enough treatment in Southampton, so he rented a house in Chandler’s Ford hoping to get treatment and again said they were let down, so they went to Thailand in October.” Following treatment in Thailand, the couple returned to the UK but his wife deteriorated soon after and was admitted to a specialist unit in Winchester.

The psychiatrist treating Richard told the inquest that following his trip to Thailand his “demons of feeling guilty flared up again.” On December 21 Richard crashed his car on the M3 and then had “trouble” with his wife on Christmas Eve which his parents considered to be “the last straw.” His brother-in-law described Richard as a “beautiful man, quiet, considerate, thoughtful…a man, in my opinion, clearly gripped with grief and guilt of his perceived failings and his unsustainable family situation going forward.”