A 17-year-old boy with autism decided to take his own life after recording a 5-minute video for his family.
Despite being one of the brightest students in his class, Joel Langford couldn’t stand the rejection and bullying he faced and he chose to commit suicide by standing in front of a train.
He also called a friend that morning and told her “he did not want to continue living and he wanted her to live a happy life.”
The broken teen recorded a video on his mobile phone, explaining why he chose to end his life.
Langford was a highly functioning autistic teen. When he was young, he was diagnosed with a severe case of Dyslexia but he still managed to score top grades in his GCSE exams.
As he moved up to A-levels in chemistry, physics, and maths, he ‘started to feel the pressure,’ said his mother, Susan Langford.
After his poor showing in the A-levels, “it dawned on him that he had an uncertain future,” Susan added.
The mother said that his classmates throw insults at him, calling him ‘retard,’ ‘loser,’ and ‘weird.’ Her son felt ‘lonely’ as his classmates were not friendly.
Langford was also rejected from his job at Costa Coffee and that hit him to the bottom.
“He did not like change and he had some worries about what was coming after the sixth form. He had become obsessed with hygiene, unable to wear certain clothes if he felt they would get dirty.
“Ironically, on the day of his death, we thought that the problem was over as he wore a jumper he had refused to wear before. However, we later found out that he had taken it off and left it on a nearby gate before the accident,” the heartbroken mother expressed.
Loco pilot Richard Woodley saw the moment Langford threw himself in front of the moving train.
“At around 9.10am we were traveling at 40mph. As the crossing came into sight I saw a male run out from the left-hand side from the trees. I did not see anyone else with him. I thought he was just running across the crossing as many people do, but I put on the emergency brake which cannot be undone until the train has completely stopped,” Woodley informed the court.
“I looked away as the train ran over the male. This was clearly an intentional act.”
Our thoughts are with the family during this difficult time.
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