Ambulance driver found dead in Liskeard woods

An ambulance driver who struggled with declining mental health for many years was found dead in the woods, an inquest into his death heard. Aaron Waite had just taken his dog Ghost for a walk in the woods off near Liskeard when he came across the body of Benjamin William Harford.

He called the emergency services and paramedics and officers from Devon and Cornwall Police attended the scene on October 10, 2023. In a statement read out at an inquest held in Truro today (Tuesday, November 12) paramedic Paul Ede, who worked on Benjamin, said he recognised him as a colleague and someone he had met at their children's rugby games.

Police found a note evaluating the pros and cons about life or death on him. The hearing was told how the 38-year-old had been struggling with depression and low mood, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), suicidal thoughts and worsening mental health made worse by false criminal allegations made against him.

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In a statement read out in court Benjamin's mother said he had been a "proper little gentleman" as a child growing up but his personality changed when he reached his teens. She said that he even played disturbing games with some friends like playing Russian roulette with ecstasy tablets dropped in a random can of soda. Unfortunately Benjamin was the one to drink the dangerous drink and ended up in hospital.

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The hearing was also told that Benjamin ended up being sectioned in a psychiatric hospital out of county in Wrexham, Wales, where he told his doctors that he had a plan to end his life.

When discharged, a few weeks before his death, he secured temporary accommodation at a Travelodge. Officers investigating his death said no third party had been involved.

Concluding in a suicide, senior coroner for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Andrew Cox said Benjamin had recently been in a relationship that had ended which followed a period of time in a psychiatric hospital. Mr Cox said Benjamin's mental health had then taken a turn for the worse. A home treatment was involved but Benjamin did not engage well with them.

He said the manner in which Benjamin died would not have happened by accident and his death had been a deliberate action on his part and said it was more likely than not that he had taken his own life and intended to do so.

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