English and Welsh suicide rates at highest level for 15 years

Suicide rates among men in England and Wales are running at their highest level for 15 years, reversing a 30-year decline that stopped in 2007, according to official figures yesterday.

In 2013, 6,233 people took their own lives. Men are more likely to do so than women, and men aged between 45 and 59 are increasingly at risk, the Office for National Statistics recordsIn 2013, 6,233 people took their own lives. Men are more likely to do so than women, and men aged between 45 and 59 are increasingly at risk, the Office for National Statistics records.

However, women are just as likely now to die by suicide in the same ways as men.

Wales vs London

The numbers highlight major differences in the prevalence of suicide between different regions: people in Wales, for example, are 2½ times more likely to die in that way than people living in London.

Men aged 30-44 had the highest suicide numbers between 1995 and 2012.

However, the highest rate changed to those aged between 45 and 59, following steady increases each year since 2007.

However, suicide remains the leading cause of death for men aged between 20 and 34 – it counted for one-quarter of all such deaths in 2013, though it accounts for one-in-eight deaths of men aged 35 to 49 years.

Sky News

Meanwhile, Sky News is set to reject a coroner’s demands to identify its source about a woman who died by suicide after it was revealed that she had posted nearly 4,000 often-offensive tweets about the parents of Madeleine McCann in just a year.

Sky News journalist Martin Brunt has been called to give evidence at the inquest in Leicestershire next month into the death last October of 63-year-old, mother-of-two Brenda Leyland.

Police in Leicestershire have asked the broadcaster who told them about Ms Leyland’s tweets attacking the McCanns.

Sky News says it will protect its source, arguing that its rights are protected by article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.