The heartbreaking last words an aspiring model said to his mother before he was tragically killed by a train, has been revealed.
David Edwards-Gill
A mother has revealed that she heard a message about her son’s death on a police radio while being questioned about his disappearance over an officer’s radio.
Lisa Edwards was answering questions about a 999 call by her son David Edwards-Gill when there was an alert that a man had been hit by a train.
At first, Mrs Edwards thought it was referring to someone else, but then a further message came through confirming that it was the 16-year-old.
David died on October 29, 2016, after he battled with mental illness and suffered from mood swings and self harm. The aspiring model from Billinge, Wigan, had been due to go to a Halloween party in a Joker costume.
But after being dropped off he called 999 and told the operator ‘I just feel shit, you know what I mean? I am going to get run over by a train.
Mrs Edwards revealed that the last thing David said to her before the party was ‘I love you, Mum. See you later.’
David was described as a keen rugby player and boxer, a loving son and a friend to many who was ‘cheeky and had a mischievous sense of humour’. Mrs Edwards said that on the night of his death she was due to pick him up at 11pm.
David Edwards-Gill and his mother
She said: ‘At 8pm that evening officers attended our address and said the emergency services had received a call from David. They asked if he was okay and asked if anything had upset him that day.
‘I tried to track him with the “Find my Friends” app on his iPhone but I was unable to do so. It was then that I overhead on the police radio that a man had been struck by a train.
‘At the time I didn’t think it was David, I said to the police that it couldn’t be him, that it must be some other poor person. It was then that they confirmed his identity over the radio.
‘I believe that he did intend the consequences of his actions that evening – but he was supported by his family always and we did everything we could for him.’
Mrs Edwards described how David struggled to express himself and understand feelings. He was referred to mental health teams after saying he wanted to end his own life but appointments appeared unsuccessful and his moods worsened.
He went missing in May 2016 and was later found on the hard shoulder of the M6 motorway and in October he stormed out of a family meal after inexplicably becoming upset. He also falsely claimed on Snapchat he had sold a gun and was a member of a gang and took cannabis and cocaine – there were no traces of drugs on him when he died.
Other fantasies he had included him stabbing a girl and alleging that he was involved in various muggings. Mrs Edwards said psychiatrists showed ‘no urgency’ to admit her son to hospital despite her concerns that he could endanger the safety of others as well as himself.
She insisted: ‘He wasn’t a violent, drug using, gang member and I don’t want him to referred to like that. It was a fantasy and there was no evidence to prove that he ever did those things – it was all in his head.’
The hearing continues.