Tributes to Jack, 19, who was found dead at his Mildenhall home after suffering from depression
Tributes have been paid to a ‘remarkable young man’ who was found dead at his home after suffering from depression.
The body of 19-year-old Jack Palmer was discovered by his mother, Winnie, inside a tent in the games room of the family’s home in Mill Street, Mildenhall, on August 29.
On Monday, nearly 300 mourners joined Jack’s family for his funeral service at the town’s St Mary’s Church where they heard the Rev Sue Leathley describe the former Ely King’s School pupil as ‘quiet, approachable and sensitive, quick to smile and always ready to help anyone whenever he could’.
She said words were inadequate to describe the family’s loss but told the congregation that already more than £5,000 had been raised in Jack’s memory for the counselling life advice suicide prevention charity Clasp.
After leaving school, Jack went to York University where he studied business management. He loved sport and had swum with the Mildenhall Sharks club and played cricket, football and rugby. With his father Robert, who owns Mildenhall’s Riverside Hotel, he had travelled to global sporting events including the Ashes Tests in Australia and the football World Cup finals.
During the service, Jack’s grandmother Stephanie read Psalm 121, words she said she always turned to ‘when the going got tough’, and Jack’s uncle Donald read a poem written by Jack’s sister, Pippa, who also chose the entrance and closing music for the service – Fix You, by Coldplay, and Everything I Do, I Do It For You, by Bryan Adams.
An inquest into Jack’s death also opened on Monday at Ipswich Coroner’s Court which heard that the day before he died, Jack, who had been receiving help for his depression for about four months, had been ‘not himself’ and quieter than usual.
Assistant Suffolk coroner Dr Daniel Sharpstone said that Jack’s mother had been out for the day and when she returned home had been unable to find her son in his room. He said the cause of death had not yet been ascertained and adjourned the hearing to a later date to allow for completion of enquiries.
