A grieving mother has opened up about her heartbreak over her “great” son who died by suicide years after being scammed out of thousands of pounds, reports The Mirror.
Oliver Wright, a 23-yr-old lorry driver who had carefully saved money since his teenage years, lost approximately €12,000 to a scam at just 18—a traumatic experience that severely impacted his mental health.
Jill Wright, reflecting on her son’s devastating loss, spoke about the once-promising future Oliver had before it was derailed by the scam. Originally from Lymn in Warrington, Oliver took his life in December 2022, reports The Mirror.
In a moving tribute, Jill remembered Oliver’s vibrant and cheeky spirit: “He was a great boy. He was a properly cheeky young man. He was good fun. He’d move the Christmas tree and put it in a different room.”
Describing his sense of humour, she added: “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,” reports the Manchester Evening News, reports The Mirror.
Oliver, who inherited a love for driving from his family, showed strong abilities behind the wheel from a young age: “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.”
Despite his commitment to his work as a HGV driver, Jill admitted that the online scam left a lasting emotional scar on her son, reports The Mirror.
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,” reports The Mirror.
According to Jill, the scammers promised Oliver a quick return on a €120 transfer, but that money never materialised.
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,” reports The Mirror.
Oliver, who once aspired to run his own trucking company, saw those ambitions crumble under the weight of the scam, leaving him feeling deeply ashamed.
In the aftermath, Oliver began attending meetings at Andy’s Man Club with a man named Simon, hoping to heal emotionally.
Despite what he’d gone through, Jill said it appeared Oliver was recovering: “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,” reports The Mirror.
She remembered a joyful family vacation in Morocco, just weeks before the tragedy, where Oliver seemed happy and upbeat: “We all had a last holiday together in Morocco in September. He was brilliant.”
Recounting the adrenaline-fueled fun with her son, she said: “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, reports The Mirror.
“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,” reports The Mirror.
Before Oliver passed away, he was admitted to the ICU at Warrington Hospital, according to Cheshire Live.
While at the hospital, Jill was given a special teddy bear that records a person’s heartbeat for playback.
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,” reports The Mirror.
“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,” reports The Mirror.
Originally donated to the hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic, these bears were intended to provide comfort when visits were restricted.
Due to their limited availability, Jill decided to create and donate her own version, founding the charity Oliver Abel’s Wish in honour of her son.
Through her efforts, Jill donated 400 teddy bears to Warrington Hospital and 100 more to Wigan Hospital, helping both ICU and maternity units, reports The Mirror.
Another 1,000 bears are expected to arrive in June, ready for more donations.
Explaining how she managed to keep going, Jill said: “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,” reports The Mirror.
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,” reports The Mirror.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.
