A MAN who was 'let down’’ by mental health services bled to death in an alleyway as police tried desperately to save his life, an inquest heard. 

Jack Stone, 33, was tracked by a police dog unit to an alleyway behind Lapstone Road in Millom on April 7, 2023, after family became concerned he had harmed himself with a kitchen knife. 

Mr Stone, of Nelson Street in Millom, had suffered with various mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) since the age of 15 when he began to engage with mental health services. 

According to a statement submitted to the Coroner’s Court in Cockermouth by his mother Janice he became ‘obsessed with the idea that he would go to prison’ for having too much money saved up in his bank account. 

Mr Stone had been looking for a flat in Millom in the months before his death and was about to sign papers for a property in March 2023 before checks revealed that the amount of savings he had was over the threshold for benefits he had been receiving and he would have to pay some money to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). 

According to his mother, despite both official and personal reassurances, Mr Stone became convinced that he would go to prison over the issue. 

This also led to Mr Stone pulling out of signing for the flat, which he said he was ‘stupid’ for doing. 

His potential landlord said in a statement that despite Mr Stone’s mental issues he was ‘intelligent’ and a ‘genuine, likeable young man’. 

In the days leading up to his death, Mr Stone had called a community mental health worker that he had spoken to for several years and requested to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act. The inquest heard he was told to just keep on taking his medication and no follow-up occurred. 

His mother had also called the community mental health team on April 5, expressing concerns over her son’s deteriorating mental health, and still no contact was made with Mr Stone. 

She said she felt her son was ‘let down’ by mental health services. 

His mother said that on the day before his death Mr Stone had turned up at her house and said he was scared of going to prison and would ‘rather kill himself’. 

A statement by Mr Stone’s father Roger Stone, who he lived with, said that he woke up at around 1am to his son who was standing over him in bed holding a kitchen knife, and ‘making stabbing motions’ towards his own neck. 

He said at this point he told him to ‘put the knife away and they walked to Mr Stone’s mother’s house. 

His mother said that upon their arrival, she saw ‘blood running down his neck’. 

She called an ambulance and the police and Mr Stone was seen running away from her house. 

Evidence from several police officers tasked to the scene said that Mr Stone had returned to his house on Nelson Street, where a trail of blood was seen leading outside the back of the empty property. 

A police dog unit found Mr Stone lying down, ‘heavily bleeding’ from his neck. 

Despite efforts by police officers and paramedics, Mr Stone was pronounced dead at 2.44am. 

Assistant Coroner for Cumbria Margaret Taylor concluded Mr Stone died from haemorrhagic shock due to wounds sustained. 

A toxicology report indicated that Mr Stone had not been concordant with taking his prescribed anti-psychotic medication. 

She said: “He actually did the act which brought about his death but it seems to me that his mental health had deteriorated to such an extent that he was undergoing a psychotic episode. 

“So we don’t know what was driving the action.” 

Addressing Mr Stone’s family, Ms Taylor said: “Jack was clearly much loved, and despite his difficulties, you were all there for him.”