Northampton widower overdoses on wife's leftover cancer medication after saying he 'wanted to be with her'

A 59-year-old man from Northampton who had lost his wife to cancer took his own life with her leftover medication, a coroner heard.
Mr Zacharski died of severe brain damage at Northampton General Hospital.Mr Zacharski died of severe brain damage at Northampton General Hospital.
Mr Zacharski died of severe brain damage at Northampton General Hospital.

Witold Zacharski died at Northampton General Hospital on June 24, 2016, after suffering non-survivable brain damage after overdosing at home.

He was described, at his inquest on May 10, as a happy man who 'never expressed any desire to kill himself', but who also became quiet and withdrawn following his wife's death in 2015.

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His son, Marcin Zacharski, who lived with his father, said in a statement read out by the coroner: "I last spoke to my father on the morning of June 18 (2016), when he came downstairs for something to eat. He told me not to come into his room, which was nothing unusual for him.

"Two hours later, I received a phone call from my brother, who said he had just spoken to our father. He had told my brother to 'say goodbye to his children'. I ran to my father's room immediately."

Marcin found his father in a state of cardiac arrest and discovered empty boxes of his mother's leftover cancer medication on the windowsill.

Mr Zacharski was taken to hospital, but died six days later following severe brain damage brought on by the pills.

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He had been heard on some occasions saying he 'wanted to be with her', but friends and family said he showed no signs of being suicidal.

He was born in Czechoslovakia in 1958 and in his career worked as a railwayman, a bus driver and a carpenter. He enjoyed fishing and had three children and nine grandchildren with his wife.

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