There is a suicide in the UK every 94 minutes.  What a shameful statistic, we should all hang our heads in shame that 16 people every day decide to take their own lives.  Try to imagine if, every day, two minibuses crashed and all the passengers were killed don’t you think the government would act – of course they would.

Fortunately we have a government who believe in a “Big Society” that cares about everyone as “we are all in this together”.  Unfortunately, they are lying; they do not care.  The reality is that they are hurting the most vulnerable, those whose voices are never heard, those who need the greatest amount of help, people such as Richard Sanderson.

In his blog earlier this week (26 August 2011), Mick Grant wrote that “as a Labour Group”, the former Labour led Council, “looked at accommodation for homeless people in Scunthorpe and the surrounding district. We did find a building owned by the Council that we could use, funding was found from an external source.

He continued, “since being in charge the Tories have now, I understand, sold the building to someone else”.  Further, “the Cabinet Member didn’t show up yesterday for a meeting on homelessness.

“Some of the homeless people we were there to help are the ones that are hard to house who cause problems on housing estates, offenders coming out of jail, substance abusers.  All these people have chaotic life styles and need to be in some form of housing, so they can be integrated back into society as proper and respected citizens.

“I believe the most important thing that people want in life is a home, if you haven’t got anywhere to live, how can you hold down a job?  How can you access services like Education, Council Services and even Benefits?”  These are people such as Richard Sanderson.

Richard Sanderson was a desperate man who meticulously wrote three suicide notes before lining up three kitchen knives and stabbing himself twice in the heart.  The inquest into Mr Sanderson’s death, reported in the Wandsworth Guardian, heard that he could not face the thought of his family being homeless after years of him being unable to find work.

After returning a verdict of suicide at Westminster Coroner’s Court on Tuesday, August 23, Dr Fiona Wilcox said: “What I find particularly tragic in this case is this act appears to be pursued by a man who was not suffering from an illness and appears to have made a considered act in response to his inability to find employment.

“The fact his housing benefit was about to be cut and the family would be at risk of having nowhere to live, and being ordered to give up his training course because of the Job Centre's rules, would appear to be especially poignant and tragic.”

In February, Merton Council estimated that 3,000 people will be affected in the Borough by the coalition Government’s policy of cutting housing benefits, which will decrease by between £5 and £400 a week from November, depending on the size of the property.

Annys Darkwa, who runs St Helier-based Vision Housing and helps find homes in Merton for ex-offenders, said tragic cases like this would become more frequent in the coming months because housing benefit cuts would hit the most vulnerable the hardest.

Mrs Darkwa said: “we are going to see this happen more and more as we expect 80,000 people across London to be evicted due to housing benefit cuts.  She continued, “it is especially concerning in Merton where mental health provision has disappeared. What’s going to happen to people who think they’re all alone and commit suicide because they think there’s no one to help them?”

Although Mr Sanderson’s wife was successful in finding work she was made redundant in 2009.  Mr Sanderson however constantly struggled to find work and was unable to complete training as an electrician because the job centre would not continue to pay his benefit whilst his training stopped him from being available for job interviews.

It was not the first time that Mr Sanderson had tried to commit suicide, the first time being in June 2010.  That time, he was found at home unconscious but still alive by his wife.

Mrs Sanderson, who did not attend the inquest because she thought it would be too upsetting, gave a statement to police in which she explained the first suicide bid was attempted to allow her and their nine-year-old son to benefit from a life insurance policy payout worth £210,000.  Mrs Sanderson cancelled the policy after the suicide attempt.

A psychological report by Dr Joanne Turner, who examined Mr Sanderson at St George’s Hospital, said he did not exhibit any signs of mental illness or depression and claimed to be “embarrassed” by his suicide bid.  In her own statement, Mrs Sanderson revealed: “In March or April [2011] we received a letter from [Wandsworth] Council which said our housing benefit would decrease by £30 a week, forcing us to move but leaving us with nowhere to go.”

Mahatma Ghandi is attributed with saying that "a nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members” but sometimes the “weakest members” of society are difficult to find even before they can be helped.  Nevertheless, as a civilised society, we must do all we can to assist everyone in any way possible.  That would include turning up at meetings to address homelessness.  But perhaps our certain elected members of North Lincolnshire Council, like their Westminster colleagues, really don’t care.  Perhaps Cllr. Sherwood would care to think about Richard Sanderson the next time he decides to “skip” a meeting?  Just a thought.