A former public schoolboy took his own life within minutes of being dismissed over Zoom from his high-flying job with a major accountancy firm.
Oliver Bredski, 21, left a note saying: ‘I’ve been sacked’ after he logged onto his virtual performance review via the video conferencing platform – then went into the loft in his parents’ home and hanged himself.
The youngster, a former pupil at the £13,380-a-year Manchester Grammar School was found by his sister Rachel who cut him down with the help of a neighbour and he was resuscitated by paramedics.
But the keen sportsman and Liverpool fan was left with severe brain injuries and was in a coma until his life support was switched off 11 months later after experts agreed there was no chance of recovery.
An inquest heard Oliver’s Zoom call with an executive at Deloittes – made nearly two months after Covid restrictions were lifted following the first UK lockdown – lasted a total of only 14 minutes and ended at 11.17am on August 25, 2020.
Oliver Bredski, 21, committed suicide after being sacked over Zoom by Deloitte in August 2020
Bredski’s Zoom call lasted just 14 minutes as he was informed of Deloitte’s decision to sack him
He was then found hanged at 11.30am after scribbling the note which was left in his bedroom of the family home in Kersal near Prestwich, Greater Manchester. He passed away on July 30 last year.
Today after a coroner heard details of the the tragedy Oliver’s father Martin, 62, a company director, who who runs a retail firm said: ‘Lockdown was a struggle for Oli and it must have affected his work. The company took a Zoom call of maybe 11 minutes or so to consider the future of a 20-year-old boy.
‘Oliver passed away last July but the truth is that we really lost Oliver that terrible day in August 2020 when for a brief moment he mistakenly thought his dreams, his hopes and plans had been brutally ripped away from him.’
The hearing in Rochdale was told Oliver was a BrightStart trainee business analyst with Deloitte based in London where he started in December 2019.
But Oliver’s bosses told the inquest that he was not doing well in comparison to other trainee analysts and he put on a series of reviews.
Complaints included him watching Netflix at work and also working from the offices of rival firm Price Waterhouse Cooper during lockdown because he had friends there.
Bredski poses for a picture with his father Martin, sister Rachel and mother Michelle (L-R)
Line manager and People Leader Miss Ranvir Rai said Oliver was put on a development plan and ‘the focus was on the positive to work through this and get out of the other side.’
She said she was asked to support Oliver in the Zoom meeting of August 25 with two senior executives.
Oliver logged in at 10.59am and was asked to put forward any reason for his low performance.
Senior executive Nick Smith stopped the meeting at 11.09am and it resumed at 11.13am when Oliver was told he was dismissed. The remaining four minutes were taken up with administrative matters related to the decision.
Mr Smith told the inquest that the company had not been told of Oliver’s previous history of mental health problems which included threats to jump off a motorway bridge in November 2017. This was in spite of Oliver bravely going public in the Guardian newspaper and other publications online in 2018 about his battle against severe anxiety and depression.
‘When I started struggling I was 16. I told my parents and initially I went to see someone private. I was diagnosed with moderate depression and anxiety,’ Oliver told the Guardian in 2018.
‘After six months I felt comfortable to be discharged. Then, a few months later, I felt really low again, got really bad mentally – and in November 2017 I attempted to take my own life. And that’s when I started to use mental health services rather than go private.
‘My experience with services was really poor, to be honest. Other than the home referral team coming round, it was a really difficult thing. The main problem I had was that I was 17. So, I was too old for child services but too young for adult services, which start at 18. So I kind of fell between the cracks and there wasn’t really enough being offered.
‘There needs to be a clear interim stage. You can’t turn around to someone who has literally been so close to ending their own life and tell them you’re just going to have to wait a month, maybe even more, before we can try and sort you out. You just can’t do that.
‘So there needs to be an interim service where somebody is constantly checking up. Even if it’s to arrange something with the GP where you have a weekly appointment.’
Mr Bredski, 62, said ‘lockdown was a struggle’ for his son and ‘it must have affected his work’
At the inquest of Oliver’s death, Mr Smith said: ‘This was a tragic set of events, a unique set of events. If there had been any record prior to that meeting of mental health issues, then that would have been taken into account. We would have taken a different course of action. I have thought long and hard about that meeting and would could have happened.’
The inquest was told Oliver had seen a therapist in his teens for periods of depression and in November 2017 had gone to a motorway bridge with the intention of throwing himself off before backing away.
His father told the hearing: ‘Sadly we know there were many dark times when Oliver found himself surrounded by dark clouds but he had learnt how to manage his issues and when the darkness came, he fought back.
‘From the low point of 2017 he taught himself to cope with what life could throw at him and overcame many challenges. He never shied away from being open and was determined to use his experiences to help others.’
Mr Bredski said that Oliver became an activist with the mental health charity Youngminds which became ‘a massive part of his life.’
‘He spoke about his struggles to diverse audiences from school kids to City grandees. For such a young man, he spoke with clarity and passion and he transfixed them all.
‘He was more than a volunteer for them, he was part of the Youngminds family. They called him a pioneer and an inspiration. They loved him and they were proud of him.
‘We have so many different memories of what Oliver did that it’s difficult to believe that he was only 21. Our beautiful boy was taken away but our memories will always be with us.
‘His senseless passing has devastated us and his many friends have also found it difficult to cope.’
Oliver had opened up about his mental health struggles in the past and was an activist for it
In summing up Coroner Catherine McKenna said that Oliver did not appreciate that he might be sacked at the Zoom meeting and was ‘shocked and taken by surprise’ by the decision.
The coroner said that she was satisfied that no one in the meeting was aware of Oliver’s previous mental health problems.
She also ruled that Oliver’s hanging was not pre-meditated and there was no evidence to suggest he planned to end his life as he had planned a golfing holiday in the Cotswolds.
Recording a narrative verdict Mrs McKenna said: ‘The meeting ended at 11.17am and his sister came home at 11.30am and that is a very short time for Oliver to have taken his action. I think he was in shock and did not fully appreciate the consequences of what he was doing. He was a young man of immense potential.’
Oliver was a keen sportsman and a Liverpool supporter too, just like his father Martin
For help, call Samaritans for free on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org
