Two best friends who killed themselves lived doors apart

Jan 28 2008 by David James, South Wales Echo

TWO best friends have been revealed as the final names on the list of 13 young people who took their own lives in Bridgend county.

Leigh Jenkins, 22, hanged himself in exactly the same way as his close pal Allyn Price, 21, had two just months earlier.

The two men lived just seven doors apart in Salisbury Road, Maesteg, until their deaths in June and April last year.

Leigh’s mother Beverley, 43, said her son was “devastated” when his lifelong pal Allyn was found hanging in his parents’ garage – but she thought he was getting through it.

She said: “When Leigh’s best friend killed himself we were worried for a long time that he might do the same thing.

“Leigh was devastated but he seemed to be getting better.

“By the time he killed himself all my fears had gone – I thought he was coming to terms with his friend’s death.”

Beverley is baffled why Leigh was on the internet in a friend’s house just a few hours before he killed himself.

Beverley said her son knew at least a second of the other 13 victims, Luke Goodridge, 22, who was also found hanged in his bedroom.

She said: “There seems to have been a cluster of young boys killing themselves who live in a very close proximity to each other.

“There’s got to be a reason behind it. There’s got to be something that can be done to help these boys.

“I just can’t understand what could be so bad that they decide to make that choice.”

Leigh worked as a pipe fitter at a gas plant in Pembrokeshire, South Wales, alongside his dad David, 48.

Window fitter Allyn’s parents, Gwyn and Linda, were too upset to discuss it at their home in the same street. Gwyn said: “Its been very difficult for us.”

The other hanging deaths were: Dale Crole, 18, David Dilling, 19, Thomas Davies, 20, Zachery Barnes, 17, Liam Clarke, 20, Gareth Morgan, 27, Natasha Randall, 17, James Knight, 26, Jason Williams, 21, Andrew O’Neill, 19, and Luke Goodridge, 20.