It has taken almost two years for mental health campaigner and former Sky journalist Mike McCarthy to near the final stages of resolving issues with life cover taken out before the death of his son Ross.
The grieving family have been trying to redirect the claim payment to Ross’s bereaved fiancée and young son instead of an ex-girlfriend.
Speaking at the Protection Review conference, McCarthy explained the “glacial” progress made in sorting out Ross’s life cover with his insurer after Ross failed to update the beneficiary on his documents.
This meant an ex-girlfriend was named as the beneficiary rather than Ross’s partner when he he took his own life in February 2020.
“Ross made a mistake. He didn’t update his life insurance. He left it in the name of a former girlfriend he hadn’t seen for six years,” McCarth revealed.
“The girlfriend told us she didn’t want the cash. The girlfriend wrote a letter saying please give this family the money,” McCarthy added.
“Fortunately, we’ve made some progress 22 months after we lost Ross. Again, individual people were warm and kind but the system wasn’t.”
McCarthy told delegates about the baton of hope that is set to travel across the country to raise awareness about suicide prevention how Ross’s suicide inspired the campaign.
