Tragic officer was too proud to tell of illness
A police sergeant who died of leukaemia had been too proud to tell his family and fellow officers he was ill, an inquest heard. Acting Sgt Lee Bates, aged 29, died on February 8.
He had been poorly for a few weeks but only after his death did a post mortem discover he had been suffering from leukaemia. His mother Christine Taylor told the hearing that her son had been ill for about a month.
She had been alerted by his superiors at Stourbridge police station. "He felt really tired and lethargic all the time," she said.
"Two days before he died, I had a phone call from his superintendent saying they were concerned and they had sent Lee home two days before, but Lee had not told us. He felt he was letting people down. He was booked to go to the GP on the following Monday."
Mrs Taylor said her son, of Furnace Close, Wombourne, lived for his work. His colleagues were left shattered by his death, at Russells Hall Hospital, Dudley, which came just hours before fellow officer Pc Simon Shanks also died suddenly.
Mr Bates's father Kevin said although he insisted on going to the theatre on the Friday night with his grandmother and sister Samantha as planned he was walking "like an elderly man".
He said: "He was deteriorating quite quickly. I phoned 999 and the paramedics wanted to admit him to hospital but he wouldn't go in." The officer then went back home to his mother's house the following day but was still ill on Sunday, refusing to go in an ambulance.
Mrs Taylor said: "At 29 you can't physically drag them to the doctor's."
Colleague Simon Shanks, a police constable of Portway Road, Rowley Regis, was found dead in his flat on February 9. The 29-year-old, who was also based at Stourbridge police station, failed to turn up to work that day.
Police chiefs at the time described the deaths as a "tragic coincidence".
Black Country coroner Robin Balmain recorded a verdict of natural causes at Mr Bates's hearing.
