THE parents of a man believed to have committed suicide after his girlfriend's death today spoke of his final call home and said: "He had everything to live for."
Christine and Allan Tait, from Blackburn, said their son Andrew, 27, loved life and had phoned them just days before his death to say he was fine.
Andrew, formerly of Romney Walk, and a former pupil at Darwen Moorland High School, died on April 4 - two days after the death of his 21-year-old girlfriend Hazel Johnstone from suspected pneumonia left him heartbroken.
He had slashed his wrists and attempted to hang himself in the Milton Keynes flat he shared with Hazel, who belonged to a large family of former travellers. A note was found on top of the television saying he could not live without Hazel.
Andrew's father Allan, 58, said: "We got the phone call at five past midnight on the Sunday. It was his friend Dougie who told us the news.
"It was like a bomb hitting us because it is the last thing we thought he would do.
"He loved life and enjoyed life and loved his cars and motorbikes. He was so young and had so much to live for and it is just such a waste of life.
"We last saw him in early December. He was happy to see us but could not get back quick enough because he loved Hazel so much.
"He must have loved her a lot more than we thought."
His mother Christine, 57, said: "I heard from him on the Friday when he rang to tell us Hazel had died. He was upset but sounded fine. He said he could not get his head round it that she had died, but we never picked up that he may be likely to harm himself. We have never known him to be so far down that he may even contemplate suicide. Everybody liked him and he got on well with everybody. His brothers and sisters phoned him to say they would go and visit him, but he said that he was fine."
A eulogy from his father, due to be read at the funeral, said: "Most of you here today knew Andrew for what he really was, just a lad who wanted the normal things in life - health, happiness, love. He had his moments of madness (don't we all?), but he would never go out of his way to deliberately hurt anyone, quite the opposite.
"When he met Hazel six years ago he thought he had found what he had been looking for so he began to settle down.
"When his beloved Hazel died, Andrew's grief and anguish was so intense that he felt he could not face life without his Hazel that he decided he would join her."
Andrew, who worked as a landscape gardener and had been living in Milton Keynes for a number of years, leaves behind a six-year-old son Andrew, two older sisters Christine and Jacqueline an older brother Iain and younger brother John.
His funeral, taking place today at Pleasington Crematorium, will be attended by friends and family.
Christine added: "We have just got to stay strong and face it.
"Everybody has been really sympathetic and we have had a lot of cards. We are going to give him a really good send off."
An inquest into Andrew's death was opened last week and has been adjourned until July 16.
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