Caption: Student killed himself after adopting diet of just fruit and veg with no protein or carbs

Cavendish

A student threw himself in front of a train after his mental health deteriorated due to an ‘oddball’ diet he had found on the internet, an inquest has heard.

Will Matthews, 22, who had been studying at Manchester Metropolitan University, became obsessed with a strict vegetable and fruit only diet. His distraught father, Christopher Matthews, said that Will ‘had a fixation with this diet’ which got ‘worse and worse’, with his mental health being impacted at the same time.

After taking health supplements to compensate for no protein or carbohydrates, he became convinced he had issues with his bones and started to lose his hair. On October 8 2017, Will, from Stockport, Greater Manchester, stepped into a path of the Birmingham to Manchester train as it was travelling through Levenshulme. He suffered multiple injuries and died at the scene.



Mr Matthews added that his son believed all the information about the diet he had got from Google and ‘American websites’ was true and that his behaviour became increasingly ‘irrational’.


Will Mathews was a food technology student at Manchester Metropolitan University (Picture: Cavendish Press)

He went on to believe that he had physical problems with his bones, which led to a meeting with a GP.

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Although Mr Matthews decided to fund private counselling for his son, he decided to stop it after Will failed to respond.

He added: ‘He was completely out of reality, he was in his own little bubble. He was completely exhausted he couldn’t focus.

‘He kept saying on many occasions he was going die and that his disease was consuming him physically and mentally.

‘He did say to me occasionally “I have just had enough, I want to end things”, but these were fleeting comments, he didn’t say how or when.’

Will was described by his father as becoming obsessed with the diet he found online (Picture: Will Mathews/ Cavendish Press)

Will’s mother Sylvia Duncan told the hearing that he had previously become pescatarian.

Ms Duncan said he had read diet advice on the internet which told him to ‘deteriorate’ a little bit first.

She added: ‘I tried to say that it doesn’t make any sense but he was adamant that they knew what they were talking about.

‘I think he accessed the wrong information from Google which sent him in the wrong direction.’

The inquest was told that Will was admitted to the Norbury Ward at Stepping Hill Hospital in September 2017 after further concerns about his mental condition.

Leanne Callan of British Transport Police said: ‘Officers attended the ward at Stepping Hill and recovered a laptop and sent it to the high tech crime unit in London. I am aware the family did have concerns regarding access to websites and the dark web and things like that.

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‘The interrogation unit were asked to check if William had been accessing any dark web material but there was no such usage of the dark web.

‘They were able to access a number of word documents. There were three documents of interest, one called “final note”, one called “suicide note” and a third called “the way”.

‘From the evidence on the CCTV and the train drivers statement, we believe that William deliberately entered the tracks on his own, there was no third party involvement, and deliberately placed himself in front of the train.’



The hearing continues.

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