Mum Loses Three Children To Suicide

Sixty-year-old mother-of-three Margaret Swift hides a terrible secret.

Her three children have ALL committed suicide!

Devastated Margaret is still coming to terms with her daughter's suicide - the third of her children to take her own life.

Heather,35,died after pouring white spirits over her body and setting fire to herself in the back garden.

Margaret lost 19-year-old son James in 1988,when he threw himself in front of a train.

Her 30-year-old son John committed suicide in 1997,when he poured petrol over himself and ignited it.

Heather was in hospital with 45 per cent burns for more than three months after she set fire to herself on February 4.

Doctors at Hospital battled desperately to save her,but she died from blood poisoning.

Margaret said Heather killed herself to be with her boyfriend Frank McFalone,who died of a heart attack two years ago.

Margaret said "When I asked her why she did it she said she did it to be with Frank.She really loved him and was devastated when he died.

"I really miss Heather,we were very close friends.She missed her brothers a lot.I think they must have been on her mind when she did it.

"I sit here now and look at the photographs of happier times - pictures of me,my husband Reginald and our three children.

"They were all such beautiful children.They've all gone now,except for Reginald,but he's been in a Lancashire nursing home for a few months,suffering from a behavioural disorder since having both his legs amputated.

"It's hard not to cry when I think of them.I never thought I'd outlive them,to be here,at sixty years of age,all by myself,still living in the family home with my sandy-coloured Jack Russell called Skip for company.

"When I met and fell in love with Reginald in 1962,he was 22,the same age as me,and worked as a labourer for the council.I was a biology and maths teacher at a secondary school.

"We married after I proposed in 1964,which was a Leap Year.Heather was born on January 24,1965.

"A year and a half later,John was born.He was the only one of my children to be blond.

"James,was born in May 1969.As a baby he had a sweet disposition.

"We were a happy family.Reginald was still working for the council as a flagger,laying pavement stones.We never had a great deal of money,but we got by,still managing treats for the children,like their pet Alsatian,Carl.

"James was quiet and liked reading.John was the naughty one.When he was five,he went upstairs in the loft looking for his Christmas presents.He lit the dark attic with a match,but he dropped one and set the upstairs alight.

"Heather was the artistic one.She won painting competitions at school.She also loved dressing up.On her eighth birthday we went out and bought a lacy party dress."You are the prettiest girl down our street" I winked.

"Like any mother,I was so proud of them.I wanted to see them grow up and have families of their own.

"But unfortunately Reginald's attacks of schizophrenia began to occur more regularly and frequently over the years.He'd fly off the handle and row with me and kids,thinking we were ganging up on him.

"But he remained stable for the next 20 years,only going into hospital when he was 58,then moving to the nursing home.

"It was hereditary and would afflict two of my children,but I didn't realise until Heather started to show symptoms of the mental illness at 14.

"She became depressed,and although the symptoms were mild at first,by the time she was 16,she was diagnosed as schizophrenic.She'd hear voices in her head and had a breakdown."There's people talking to me all the time,they never stop.Please tell them to go away" I'd hear her beg.

"John was also showing signs of being schizophrenic and he was diagnosed with the condition at 17.

"But luckily my youngest,James,the big-hearted one of the family,didn't inherit it.

"He got a job as a care assistant in a nursing home when he was 17.But after a year he left the job because he couldn't cope with the stress and began to get severely depressed.

"One night,the police came round to fetch me and my husband."Your son's climbed the 50ft high observation tower at Washington Hall in Buxton and he's threatening to jump" they told us.

"I was devastated.On the car ride to the tower,I silently prayed for him.I asked God to save him,not let him jump.He heard my prayer,because someone managed to talk James down and he was taken to the Moorlands Hospital for psychiatric treatment,suffering from depression.

"The hospital had an open door policy.They were allowed to go for walks.On the 12th October 1988,James,who was 19,said he was going for a walk,but went to the nearby Manchester to Blackpool railway line at Chorley.He lay on the line and was killed instantly when a train hit him.

"John was still living at home with us.John was already schizophrenic so couldn't work.When his only friend moved away,he felt lonely and didn't really leave the house.He wanted a girlfriend or some mates to invite around and listen his records,which he loved playing.

"We'd often leave him downstairs listening to music till late at night.One night,while Reginald and I lay in bed,30-year-old John,fed up with life,walked into the garden,poured a gallon of petrol over himself,then lit a match.He doused himself in the bathroom sink,and then shouted upstairs to us "Hey,I'm on fire!"

"I ran down the stairs and he was standing at the bottom,his body charred from head to foot.I cried "What have you done,John?"

"He was taken to Whistone Hospital in Liverpool,and died two days later from 77 per cent burns.During those last days he was swollen and bloated beyond recognition.

"I only had Heather left.She'd grown into a beautiful woman,always going out of her way to be kind to others.We'd always been very close.We'd shop together and she was always generous in buying me things.

"She gave up smoking for two years and saved the money she would have used for cigarettes to buy me a new sofa suite.

"Unfortunately,men took advantage of her good heart.She had boyfriends over the years and at 26,was in love with a married man for a time.When she fell pregnant she thought he'd leave his wife but he didn't.

"She kept the child,a baby girl who was the image of her mum.After the birth,because of her history of mental illness,Heather went into a special mother and baby unit in Cheshire.She started hearing voices again.

"I would visit her and my bonny granddaughter,bringing gifts,overjoyed I was grandmother."She's a lovely little girl,just like you were" I'd tell Heather.

"I hoped Heather would get better and the two of them would come home and live with me,but it was just a foolish dream."I've decided to have her adopted.It's no good - I love her but I can't cope.I can't give her want she needs like nice things,a home,a dad" Heather told me eight months later."It's your decision and I'll support whatever you want to do" I replied,my heart breaking inside me.

"A nice family was found for the child,who sent Heather letters for years afterwards telling them how she was doing.

"When Heather came home,she was depressed,staying indoors.The old self-confident Heather that loved dressing up had gone forever I thought,until Frank McFalone came along.

"He was an Irish builder,working on some new houses being built in our road.My daughter was now 32,and whenever she went past the construction site,he'd chat her up.He was much older,55,a widower with two children.

"His wife had died of cancer and Heather fell for the Irish charm instantly.They moved in together and marriage seemed to be on the cards,but one morning after they'd been living together a year,he got up to go to the toilet and had an epileptic fit which brought on a heart attack.He died straight away.The ambulancemen found his slumped body jammed behind the bathroom door.

"A part of my darling daughter died with him.She moved back home the day he passed away on 1st June 1998,depressed and lonely once again."Mum,how am I going to live without him? He was my life.He understood me and took care of me.What am I going to do? I don't want to live."

"I tried not to leave her alone because I was worried.Once,while I was out shopping,she tried to drown herself in a nearby lake,but luckily she could swim,so she scrambled back to the banks.It was a cry for help.

"I remember that night,February 4th,so clearly.She said "I'm going to smoke a cigarette before I turn in,mum."

"Alright love,but don't be too long" I said.She was gone ten minutes when she shouted "Mum I've burnt myself."

"I thought she meant a tiny cigarette burn,but when I went downstairs,she was naked,the white nightie she'd been wearing was burnt from her body.Her torso was charred.I grabbed a blanket to cover her.

"Heather had gone into the garden,doused herself in white spirits,and set herself alight."Why did you do it,Heather?" I sobbed,not believing this was happening again."Because I wanted to be with Frank" she replied calmly.

"The pain I felt was immense.It was as if someone had plunged a knife into my heart.She was all I had left and now she was being taken from me.

"The ambulance took her to Whiston Hospital in Liverpool,the same hospital as her brother John.She had 45 per cent burns.

"But she wanted to live."I wish I hadn't done it,mum,and I hope I live.I am not going to die mum,am I? I want to go home" Heather sobbed.

"I'd visit whenever I could,but I was partially blind by now and relied on friends to take me.I'd bring her milk,which she loved."I'm fed up being in here.I want to come home,mum.I wish I hadn't done this" she'd say whenever I visited.

"Oh love,you're going to get better and come home.Then we'll have fun and wear our new clothes" I told her confidently.

"My beautiful 35 year-old daughter lived for 13 weeks.She never recovered,her body and spirit just gave up fighting.

"Shortly afterwards,a parcel addressed to Heather arrived.I opened the package,tears already forming in my eyes.It contained the pretty summer dress she'd ordered just before she died.

"She would have looked so wonderful in it,but she would never get the chance to wear it."