An OAP was injured while desperately trying to save her husband who took his own life.
Brothers Stuart and Luke Slater revealed their 72-year-old mum Carol was hurt as she attempted in vain to stop their dad Fred, who died following a period of depression.
The brave pair spoke out to quash false rumours about the tragedy on Wednesday, which saw armed officers, forensics and sniffer dogs dispatched to the home in Ockbrook, Derbyshire.
Police were called out on Wednesday morning and found the body of Mr Slater at a house in what was described as a “domestic incident”, the Derby Telegraph reports.
Stuart said: “Given the nature of the incident, we don’t want people to believe that this was an aggressive, out-of-the-blue incident.
"We don’t want all the people who knew and loved dad to think wrongly of him.
“This was an awful event that occurred because dad was really poorly, and not because of some domestic dispute.”
Explaining the background to the tragedy, Stuart said: “About a year and a half ago, dad developed a mental illness – a depression, basically.#
"He’d been very poorly since, and we’d been trying really hard to look after dad and hope that he could get better.
“Prior to the incident this week, there was never any evidence of danger or threat from dad. He just became very withdrawn and not our loving, normal dad.
“He was receiving treatment from the doctor and had been staying in hospital. The doctors tried lots and lots of different things and felt they couldn’t do anything more.
“We had him back home and it was lovely having him back home. I don’t want to go into details about what happened. I would just say that dad took his own life and, in doing so, our mum was hurt, but not critically.
“We’re so grateful to everybody who helped get mum to the hospital and get her better.”
Stuart and Luke said their mum would be released from hospital “soon”.
“Whether she’ll come back here [to Ockbrook], we haven’t decided yet,” said Stuart.
Stuart and Luke said their father had worked in the railway industry for his entire career, including for British Rail and Bombardier.
Paying tribute, they said: “Our dad worked on the railway all his life. Consequently, he was very well known by lots of people in the Derby area.
“He was known and regarded as a very kind, fair and honest man, and was loved for that. He managed a department of the railway over many years and progressed to quite a senior position on the strength of his hard work ethic and how well people responded to him as a manager.
“Aside from that, dad was a really keen musician. He played in bands and music was his real sort of love.
“We’d like to get the point across about how much we loved our dad. We’re so sad to lose him and to not have him in our lives any more.“
Meanwhile, Derbyshire police have thanked those who responded to an appeal following Mr Slater’s death.
A force spokesman said: “Our officers were called to a house on Bare Lane on Wednesday, January 31. On arrival a man was found dead inside the property and a woman was taken to hospital.
“On Thursday, we released an appeal to trace a passer-by who stopped to help the injured woman.
“This woman has now been traced and has spoken to officers.”
Detective Inspector John Murphy said: “I would like to thank the public for contacting us with information relating to this incident.
“I would also like to thank the local community who assisted us with our enquiries.
“The woman that was taken to hospital and is now doing well and it is hoped that she will be home soon.
“I would like to reiterate that we are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.”
culled from www.mirror.co.uk
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