This is the second time within a few months that two men’s (also fathers)’s mental health had deteriorated so severely that they have taken their own lives. The reasons in both cases was stated to be because of the intense scrutiny they were under and the online vitriol they were subjected to. The earlier case was Prof
Jason Arday the current case is that of Nicholas Brandram.

The sisters of the man suspected of being the so-called “Putney pusher” have told the BBC their brother was innocent, and accused the Metropolitan Police of being “negligent and reckless”.

Nicholas Brandram’s sisters Alexia Hicks and Sophie Voelcker told Today presenter Justin Webb their brother’s mental health had been deteriorating in recent months and that “every day was becoming difficult” while he was under police scrutiny.

He was reading everything that was online. Because he was still guilty online.”
BBC News 18/09/2026

I’m suddenly reminded of an even earlier case, that of Ruth Perry!

An Ofsted inspection “contributed” to the death of head teacher Ruth Perry, an inquest has ruled.

The inspection “lacked fairness, respect and sensitivity” and was at times “rude and intimidating”, senior coroner Heidi Connor said.

Mrs Perry, 53, took her own life in January while waiting for an Ofsted report to be published.

Her sister Julia Waters said “urgent lessons must be learnt from Ruth’s death”.

Ms Connor expressed concern about the system’s impact on school leaders.

The coroner’s verdict was recorded as “suicide: contributed to by an Ofsted inspection carried out in November 2022.”

Commentary
My first puzzle is why anyone subject to such criticism would wish to endlessly read more about their case online?
My second more general puzzle is why some individuals are so vulnerable to public criticism that they feel impelled to cease living while others subject to the apparently same intolerable pressures do not feel so impelled to take their own lives.

I’m contrasting these tragic cases of suicide with those of, for example, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin and all the other despots in this world. It is too easy to say that those in the former group feel the only way to escape their utterly ‘living hell’ is to exit life while the latter are not bothered by the living hell they create for others.

There’s clearly something other than public scrutiny that’s at play here. What is it about ‘mental health’ that makes some people vulnerable while others are (apparently) impervious?
menta