THE brother of a lottery winner hanged himself the day before he and his family were due to be evicted from their home after he fell behind in mortgage repayments.
Duncan Wilby, who worked as a part-time postie, had hidden his financial worries from his family who believed they were scraping by.
The 39-year-old was found hanging from the garage roof with the eviction note in his pocket by heartbroken wife Ma
ndy, who had rushed to their home in Wombwell, South Yorkshire, to tell him the good news that she had got a new job.
Despite efforts from her, the neighbours and paramedics, he died later that day, March 5 this year, at Barnsley District General Hospital.
Their £24,000 mortgage was £1,500 in arrears but Mrs Wilby had no idea about the financial problems.
The couple had paid off their original mortgage but took out another to allow them to extend the house when they were having their second child. Her husband, who was unable to work full-time because of severe epilepsy, had told her they were keeping up with the £341-a-month payments.
On two previous occasions his sister Dawn Hyde, 39, who had scooped 4.2m pounds on the lottery nine years ago, had paid off his debts and the family - which includes his daughter Samantha, eight, and his son Nathan, five, - were saved from the bailiffs.
But on February 15 he received another letter demanding £1,421 pounds or face eviction on March 6. Unable to face it, he hanged himself.
Sheffield's assistant deputy coroner Donald Coutts-Wood recorded an open verdict at the inquest into Mr Wilby's death last week.
Devastated Mandy today urged anyone facing financial problems to seek help before the situation ran out of control.
"I thought we were a really solid couple who told each other everything, but obviously he felt he couldn't tell me this," she said.
"Everyone, including me, thinks he believed I would have got to him in time.
"I hadn't a clue Dawn had bailed him out in the past. If I had known we would have gone to get help from the bank or the mortgage advisers. Anything would have been better than this. The government needs to do something to either lower the cost of living or make wages higher.
"I believe that Duncan thought he was coping but lost control when fuel and everything else rocketed. Things got too much and plenty of other people out there must be in similar situations. I just hope they have the sense to forget their pride and seek help before another tragedy like this happens."
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