A YOUNG high-flyer killed himself minutes after being sacked on Zoom following a complaint he watched Netflix while at work.
Oliver Bredski, 21, had landed a role as a trainee business analyst with top firm Deloitte – but was put under a series of reviews after bosses claimed he wasn’t performing as well as other new starters.
After he was let go in a 14-minute Zoom call, he wrote a note to his family saying: “I’ve been sacked.”
He then took his own life in the loft of his parents’ home.
An inquest today heard the former public school student was found by his sister Rachel.
Despite efforts to save his life, the keen sportsman had suffered severe brain damage. He was placed in a coma before his life support was switched off 11 months later.
His employers had complained that he was watching Netflix at work. They also claimed he was working from the offices of rival PwC because he had friends there.
Oliver’s heartbroken father Martin, 62, a company director, told the hearing: “Lockdown was a struggle for Oli and it must have affected his work.
“The company took a Zoom call of maybe eleven 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.”
Oliver’s Zoom call ended at 11.17am and he was found hanged just 13 minutes later at 11.30am at his family home in Kersal, Greater Manchester.
He’d been based in Deloitte’s London office, where he started in December 2019.
For a brief moment, he mistakenly thought his dreams, hopes and plans had been ripped away
Line manager 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”.
However, he was dismissed after failing to improve, it was said.
Senior executive Nick Smith said 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.
He had previously spoken out about his battles and had been an activist with the mental health charity Youngminds.
Mr Smith said: “This was a tragic 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.”
Recording a narrative verdict at Rochdale Coroners Court, coroner Catherine McKenna said: “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.”
EVERY 90 minutes in the UK a life is lost to suicide
It doesn’t discriminate, touching the lives of people in every corner of society – from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers.
It’s the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, more deadly than cancer and car crashes.
And men are three times more likely to take their own life than women.
Yet it’s rarely spoken of, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly rampage unless we all stop and take notice, now.
That is why The Sun launched the You’re Not Alone campaign.
The aim is that by sharing practical advice, raising awareness and breaking down the barriers people face when talking about their mental health, we can all do our bit to help save lives.
Let’s all vow to ask for help when we need it, and listen out for others… You’re Not Alone.
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support:
