Father who heroically stopped suicidal woman from jumping off a bridge kills himself just weeks later
STOKE-ON-TRENT, ENGLAND: A hero biker and father killed himself just weeks after stopping a woman from committing suicide off a bridge. 49-year-old Alan 'Azzer' Mattocks who hails from Stoke-on-Trent was discovered dead in his garden on July 28 after taking his own life.
A few weeks before his death, Mattocks had received a letter of thanks from the Staffordshire police for helping to stop a suicidal woman from jumping off the A50 bridge. However, he took his own life a few weeks after his heroic act. As reported by Stoke-on-Trent Live, Mattocks wife Dawn is urging anyone with mental health problems to open up about their issues. Dawn opened up ahead of Mattock's funeral to speak out about the importance of voicing mental health issues.
She had been married to Mattocks for around ten years. Dawn shared, "My life has been turned upside down. We did not think he suffered from any mental health problems but there was obviously something. We had been out the night before. I had no idea anything was troubling him. Everything was fine. We can’t believe he would do such a thing." She added that Mattocks was a very devoted family man and more than 50 family members were heading to Morocco next year to celebrate his 50th birthday.
She also addressed Mattocks' heroic deed and said that it was not surprising that he had stepped in and helped to stop a woman from jumping off the bridge. "He would do anything for anybody. He just liked to help people. We used to run the children’s center on the estate and the young ones had a lot of respect for him," she revealed.
Dawn further revealed that he was a member of the Jollee's Characters based at London Road and they would dress up as Star Wars characters and head out to charities. He would always dress as Chewbacca.
Many of Mattocks' friends will be getting tattoos of Chewbacca as a tribute to him after the funeral. His daughter Amy Wallbanks shared, "I have lost my fun-loving dad. I called him Pops. He would do anything for me. I miss him terribly."
Post his death, a family friend who runs a pub will be holding a coffee morning every Tuesday where people are invited to just show up and have a chat.