Man, 23, took own life after £10k scam left him 'stressed and embarrassed'

The heartbroken mum of a 23-year-old man who took his own life after being scammed out of thousands paid tribute to a "properly cheeky young man". Oliver Wright fell for a scam aged 18 when he was working as a lorry driver and doing odd jobs to . It cost him £10,000 in three days.

Devastated mum, Jill, says the scam changed her son forever and took a torrid toll on his mental health. Oliver, who was from Lymn in , tragically took his life aged 23 in December 2022. Honouring her son, Jill told : “He was a great boy. He was a properly cheeky young man. He was good fun. He’d move the tree and put it in a different room.

"He’d just do daft things. He was a practical joker. If he saw you in the car, he’d open the boot and then get in his car and drive off. He was just a boy.

"He was big into driving. My husband's got his own business and Oliver used to help him out. Oliver could drive a forklift by the age of 10. He was a 20-year-old lad driving these massive lorries. Driving was his thing."

But while Oliver stayed dedicated to his john as a HGV driver, Jill acknowledged that falling victim to an online financial scam had a significant impact on her son. She said: “He did loads and loads of jobs and by the time he got to 18, he'd saved up a hell of a lot of money.

"He got scammed on his phone and it obviously affected him. He got really upset by it. It was stressing him out and he was embarrassed, so he didn't really quite know what to do about it."

Jill says the scammers told Oliver that if he transferred them £100, they would give him a quick profit. However she said the reward never came. She recalled: "They went through £10,000 within about three days and his heart just broke because he'd worked so hard. He'd go and cut people's grass from a young age.

“He was saving up and wanted his own truck business eventually, and these people knocked it all out of him and he was embarrassed." Following the event, Oliver attended sessions at Andy’s Man Club with Simon, Jill’s husband, in an attempt to overcome the ordeal.

She said he had seemed to overcome the challenges of the scam. She said: “They did go, but he was only 19 or 20. He went a few times and we thought he'd got over it and he'd be okay.”

Oliver appeared to bounce back and Jill fondly remembered their last family holiday, saying: “We all had a last holiday together in Morocco in September. He was brilliant.

"I was on the speedboat with him and he was scaring the living daylights out of me because he's driving so fast. I had a wonderful family holiday and a few weeks later he wasn't there. It's mad.

"He was so happy the night before we lost him. He wasn't really into football, but there was an England v Wales football match on and his girlfriend was from Wales... He was watching football, laughing and screaming. He was picking me up, spinning around because I was in the lounge putting the Christmas tree up early."

Before Jill tragically lost her son, Oliver was admitted to the ICU at Warrington Hospital. At the hospital Jill received a teddy bear which could capture a person’s heartbeat for a replay.

Jill shared: “I was coming home in the car without my son but had this little bear on my knee with his heart beating it. If I want to listen to it, I can at any point, but I don't necessarily do that very often. It's just knowing that it's there in my bedroom with me all the time.

"I think I would be a different person if I didn't come home without that little bear. I don't think I'd be as strong as I am now in coping with the loss. You've got pictures in the house and you've got videos. But this little bear in my bedroom next to his picture has helped me so much.”

The bears were originally donated to the hospital during the Covid outbreak when visitors were restricted. Only a small number of these bears are available and Jill decided that she would craft her own and donate them by founding the charity Oliver Abel's Wish, in memory of her son.

Jill has since been able to gift 400 bears to Warrington Hospital and another 100 to Hospital, benefitting both the ICU and baby units. An additional 1,000 teddies are scheduled for a June arrival, ready for further donations.

Reflecting on her experience, Jill shared: “When something like this happens, you're just distraught and you don't know what to do with yourself. Even just eating or watching TV is horrible.

“But one day I was watching a TV programme. It was about a little girl that had a life-shortening condition and I just thought, I need to do something with these bears.”

She added: “I think this work has helped me deal with losing Oliver because it's given me a focus and a way I can go and help others.

"Every time he took one of his tests - he did one with his car and two with the lorries - you can sign up to the donor register. I was really proud of him for doing that. He's saved five people's lives. To me he was a son, but he was also a hero."

**For emotional support you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email **, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.