Unemployed gardener who was 'too proud' to claim benefits killed himself because he 'felt demoralised after applying for 40 jobs in three months with no success'

An unemployed gardener desperate for work killed himself after he was left ‘demoralised’ by hours of form-filling at his local job centre.
Martin Hadfield, 20, of Tottington, Greater Manchester, was so keen to get a job that he refused to claim any welfare handouts and applied for 40 posts over three months.
But he failed to get responses on almost every application after being ‘undercut’ on wages by younger and less experienced candidates.
Mr Hadfield's period out of work and government red tape left him feeling ‘put down with no self worth’, according to his family.

Death: Martin Hadfield (pictured with his mother Annie O'Gorman) failed to get responses on almost every job application over a three-month period

Just 24 hours after a meeting where Jobcentre Plus staff in Bury invited him to a ‘follow up’ meeting, he was found hanged at his flat.

After an inquest in Heywood into Mr Hadfield’s death, his stepfather Peter O’Gorman, 47, said: ‘Martin was obviously never a statistic to us.
'But in the last months of his life he became a statistic to other people. He was a statistic by being out of work, a statistic when he went into the job centre and now he a statistic by killing himself.
‘Sadly this statistic seems to be growing especially in boys Martin’s age who are struggling in the current climate, or struggling with life and they forget to think about talking to someone.

'Became a statistic': Mr Hadfield was 'undercut' on wages by younger and more inexperienced candidates

‘Martin was the kind of guy who was industrious but too proud to tell us if anything was wrong.'
Car valeter Mr O'Gorman added: ‘On the day he died his mum gave him some money for the bus home and instead he walked the five miles home and saved it for something important.
'That was the kind of boy he was - hardworking and with so much potential. Martin never claimed any money or benefits in his life as parents we could help him out until he got on his feet.
'He got nothing off the government and was proud not to. He hated the idea of going to the job centre because he had heard what so many other his age had said. 
'Many people go in with a sense of self-worth - they really do want a job - but come out feeling demoralised and putdown.

‘There seems a stereotype surrounding youngsters between 18 and 25 who go into job centres. There are some people in that age group who don’t want work but there are plenty who are eager to work and earn a living.’
Mr Hadfield, originally from Greenoch, near Glasgow, left school with GCSEs and - after helping his stepfather valet cars - got a job at as a landscape gardener and achieved National Vocational Qualifications. But in April last year he lost his job due to the firm downsizing.

Mr O’Gorman added: ‘Martin was a real hard grafter. He hated being out of work or sitting at home doing nothing. When work was dead he would never just sit on his bum, he would go off and look for work. If he could have worked seven days a week he would have.
'After he lost his job he was searching for work and had been waiting on phone calls back from all the applications he sent out. It just seemed firms wanted to hire younger workers for lower wages.

'Demoralising': Just 24 hours after a meeting where staff a the Jobcentre Plus in Bury (pictured) invited him to a 'follow up' meeting, he was found hanged at his flat

‘If there was a younger lad, with nowhere near the flair or experience of Martin, who cost just a tenner, he would get the job.
‘Martin was heartbroken by it and heartbroken everytime he walked passed the gardens he used to tend and see them in disrepair.

'I think he just got fed up and frustrated with the system and had a moment of madness'
Peter O’Gorman, stepfather

‘He took such pride in his work. He applied for a load of jobs in the time he was out of work. At least 30 or 40 jobs. His dad and sister would help him with his CV too.

‘He wasn’t fussy, he would have taken anything just to be working and on the employment ladder. But I have heard from so many people that the job centre experience is very demoralising.
‘The human touch is so much better than looking at a name on a piece of paper. The bureaucracy is ridiculous. You wait months for a letter or a form and it takes ages to do anything.
‘It is so frustrating. The day he died he went for an appointment and little seems to have come from that meeting, except a follow up meeting. It broke his heart to go in there.

‘He wanted to work and he would have worked hard and he would have grafted hard. He wanted to see what was available to him and he would not have been fussy.

Younger days: Mr Hadfield (pictured above in his earlier years) left school with GCSEs and - after helping his stepfather valet cars - got a job at as a landscape gardener and achieved National Vocational Qualifications

‘He isn’t like some people his age happy on the dole watching Jeremy Kyle day after day, he would have taken anything and would have been great at it.
‘He wanted to be given something, even if he was a bin man we would had the cleanest streets going. He shouldn’t have been stereotyped and nor should other people his age.

'Martin was just a regular boy and he just didn’t think to talk to someone about what he was going through'
Annie O’Gorman, mother

‘I think he just got fed up and frustrated with the system and had a moment of madness.
‘I went into the job centre after his death but they was very little they could tell me except that the manager was reassured that her customer service employee had handled the appointment with Martin correctly.
‘But in his meeting Martin was offered another meeting in two weeks. I think that left him in despair that he would be without money for another two weeks.’
Mr Hadfield’s mother Annie O’Gorman, 50, a former prison officer, said: ‘Martin was just a regular boy and he just didn’t think to talk to someone about what he was going through. It was just a tragic moment of madness.’

SUICIDES BY YOUNG BRITISH MEN

There were 5,981 suicides in the UK in 2012 - 77 per cent of which were men, according to statistics published by the Samaritans charity.
This total figure was down slightly from 6,045 in 2011, but up significantly from 5,608 in 2010.
The UK rate of suicide among men aged 20 to 24 in 2012 was 15.5 per 100,000 people, compared to 3.2 for women of the same age.
The only age groups with lower male suicide rates in 2012 were the under 20s and over 60s, the figures also showed.

The hearing in Heywood was told in the days before the noon meeting at the Bury Jobcentre Plus, Mr Hadfield had been updating his CV.
He attended the meeting but the following day was found hanged at 5.40pm by his flatmate Stuart Evans when he came home from work.
Mr Evans, 20, told the inquest: ‘He was a very close friend of mine. In those two or three months out of work, I could see him getting more and more fed up - as you would expect anyone to.’
Recording a verdict of suicide for the death on July 7 last year, Coroner Simon Nelson said: ‘Martin was clearly very highly thought of and these are fine attributes indeed.
‘It may well be a moment of madness - but I feel sure he intended the consequences of his actions.
‘Young men in particular tend to act or react impulsively to life’s events. The way of trying to come to terms with life’s events is talking it through - even if you do not realise it at the time.’

DM