The family of a 17-year-old A-Level student has urged children and students to speak out about pressure and mental health issues they face during the Coronavirus lockdown after their son Matthew Mackell, was found dead in a park.
Matthew who had aspirations to become an accountant and had been hand picked out of Year 12 to do a two-week work placement with an American investment management firm in London due to his outstanding brilliance was discovered in Dunorlan Park, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in the early hours of Thursday, May 7, and pronounced dead by paramedics and police.
The family discovered Matthew had a notebook where he detailed that he feared for his future after the Coronavirus pandemic and how the lockdown would affect his school results.
His 18-year-old brother Chris said: ‘He was writing about his feelings and that he wasn’t happy. It was quite dark. It wasn’t nice to read. ‘But I wasn’t aware of any problems at all. If anything I thought he was doing more than well with it. No one really thought that Matt was worried about that. I was speaking to a couple of his friends and they were saying he was 100% the brightest one out of the whole year.
‘He literally spent his breaks and lunches doing all his work and doing extra. But he was worried that he was going to end up in a dead end job which is stupid to think about, especially when he was doing so well. I think he enjoyed school and was quite proud of himself.’
Matthew’s family are using his death to highlight to other kids how tough the uncertainty surrounding closed schools during lockdown can be.
Chris said: ‘You can more than make up for what you’re missing out on now. It’s not the end of your A-levels and it’s certainly not the end of the world you not being at school right now. Obviously people are stressing out about it.
‘I want to emphasise the mental health aspect and that help is there. You are not a burden on someone because that’s one thing Matt was worried about – having to go and talk to someone. He felt bringing his problems to them would bring them down and be a pain in the arse for them.’
The family reportedly set up a fundraising page for Matthew’s funeral costs and have raised more than £7,300. The family also plans to plant a memorial tree in Dunorlan Park in his memory.
