‘I’d failed as a dad. I hadn’t kept my daughter alive’: Fathers who lost their children to suicide on their guilt and grief – and their incredible fight to stop other families going through the same tragedy

One of the Three Dads Walking group who lost their daughters to suicide has revealed how he felt like he had ‘failed’ as a father when she died.

Tim Owen’s daughter Emily died in hospital aged 19 in March 2020, five days after attempting to take her own life at their home in Shouldham, Norfolk.

Following her death, Mr Owen joined forces with Mike Palmer and Andy Airey – whose daughters Beth Palmer, 17, and Sophie Airey, 29, also killed themselves.

The trio have been widely praised for having walked more than 900 miles, raising £1million for the charity Papyrus (Prevention of Young Suicide) amid their grief.

Appearing on Andy Coulson’s podcast Crisis What Crisis?, Mr Owen spoke about the death of Emily, who struggled with mental health difficulties and had autism.

The 54-year-old RAF wing commander told the show: ‘When you lose a child, you feel like you’ve done something wrong, you feel like you’ve totally messed up.

‘And then how can you be a father to your other kids if you’ve messed up with one kid? I’d failed as a dad, ultimately, I hadn’t kept my daughter alive.’

Emily attended art college and planned to train as a nurse, but struggled to cope with the prospect of the Covid lockdown and was terrified about losing her freedom.

Her parents found her unconscious after she attempted to take her own life, and she was taken to hospital but died when doctors decided to switch off her life support.

Mr Palmer, 59, who worked as a firefighter in Manchester, suffered his own grief when his younger daughter Beth, a talented musician, took her life in March 2020 in her bedroom, also feeling trapped by lockdown.

Two years earlier, Sophie – daughter of Mr Airey, 63, from Morland, Cumbria, who worked in tourism – was found dead in her flat in Edinburgh after texting her mother to say she wanted to end her life.

The trio of fathers got in touch after Mr Owen’s older daughter Annabel found a story about Mr Palmer and Beth on social media. 

Noting the similarities, she contacted Beth’s older sister and this led to the families getting to know each other.

They then met Mr Airey after Mr Palmer’s son Gregor sat next to him on a Papyrus suicide awareness course – which led to the creation of Three Dads Walking.

They came up with their idea a 15-day charity-walk in 2021, traversing the 300 miles between their houses.

The following year, they did a second walk of 600 miles between the parliaments of all four UK nations – and had a meeting with Rishi Sunak last April.

From April 17, they are set to walk 500 miles from Scotland to Norwich, with the Prime Minister invited to join them when they walk through his constituency in North Yorkshire.

Their charity work has been noticed by Hollywood stars Daniel Craig and Nicole Kidman who have each donated £10,000. 

They are now calling for suicide prevention lessons – which are currently optionally taught to age-appropriate children – to become a statutory part of the curriculum.

And the trio have now released a book about their journey – Three Dads Walking, which was published by Robinson yesterday.

Andy Coulson’s podcast Crisis What Crisis? is on YouTube – click here to watch it

If you are concerned a young person is thinking about suicide, contact Papyrus Hopeline247 on 0800 068 4141, text 07860 039967 or email: pat@papyrus-uk.org