My son, David, was in an abusive marriage to a Chinese national, living in Southampton. He suffered mental abuse in the marriage. He was a quiet, inoffensive, intelligent lad. He had a degree in law. He did not drink alcohol, use drugs or even bad language. He was healthy and physically strong. They were married for ten years. As the marriage progressed, the abuse got in on him, he developed mental health problems, and eventually suffered a number of breakdowns and hospital admissions. He was last discharged from hospital two days after Christmas (2008) and came straight home to us. We were anxious to have him away from his wife as we considered him at risk when living with her, and were hoping to have him with us for at least six months to assist a full recovery. End of Feb 2009, we had to attend our daughter's wedding in Thailand. He went home on our departure. Within days of his return he was found dead in his bed, without any apparent cause.
His wife had just months before acquired her UK passport and within weeks applied for a divorce. In the early years of their marriage he had used his legal skills to build up a portfolio of five apartments, they lived in one and the others were let.
When he returned to his apartment, Thurs 26th Feb, she moved out. She made a short visit on the Friday, and Saturday. He pleaded with her to stay and said he would starve himself if she left. He used to phone her on average 3/4 times a day. She did not visit until the following Wednesday at which time she said she found him in bed deceased. She told us that she had a bad feeling on the Monday and felt he had died, but did not visit him because her friend was unwell. He was under the care of Southampton Dept of Psychiatry, who had a home help team who in the past would visit him, sometimes twice daily, to check on his condition. They operated a 24 hour helpline and would impress on us the importance of keeping a close eye on him and be sure to telephone them if we had any concern whatever re his health. Before his marriage he was a young healthy lad. At the end he was a broken man.
Is there any law of neglect in the UK that would apply in this instance. I know there have been many cases of neglect in the courts involving children.
We are awaiting the results of toxicology/histology reports and have not ruled out foul play. His wife had already made criminal threats against another member of our family.
I thank you for reading this and would appreciate any light you might throw onto this tragic event.