Strange Triple Suicide in UK

[Helen Reyes]

The Queen's governor general in Canada just saved Harper's government a few months ago by dissolving parliament. This Serykh fellow sure doesn't sound like he committed suicide though.

[David Guyatt]

Good to see you back Helen. Fingers duly crossed for your forthcoming move...

[John Kowalski]

Britain: Strange Triple Suicide

March 18th, 2010 I have no idea what to make of this one.
Via: Times Online:
The mystery of three refugees who jumped to their deaths from a Glasgow tower block took a dramatic turn yesterday when it emerged that one of them had claimed to be a member of the Russian security services and went on to allege that he had uncovered a plot by the Canadian Government to assassinate the Queen.
Serge Serykh, 43, who, along with his wife and stepson, threw himself off a Glasgow tower block, was convinced that if he was not given asylum in Britain his life would be at risk. It is clear, as The Times has learnt, that Mr Serykh was suffering from severe mental health problems.
No deportation order to remove him from the UK had been issued by the authorities at the time he and his family embarked on their macabre triple suicide — although official sources said they had had their benefit payments removed last month and were facing eviction from their YMCA flat in the notorious Red Road complex on the day that they died.
Last night, as Strathclyde Police pieced together the mysterious tale of Mr Serykh, his blonde-haired wife, thought to be called Tatiana, and his 21-year-old stepson, sources told The Times of the bizarre background to a suicide pact that has shocked Scotland.
Mr Serykh had been given refugee status in Canada in 2000 and, in a plot that resembles an airport thriller, had offered his skills as an alleged former member of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to the Canadian Government, saying he had evidence of a foreign spy network across the country.
In November 2007 Canada rejected his application for citizenship and he immediately accused the authorities there of having used mind-altering psychotronic techniques against him.
He left Canada in late 2007 and went to several European countries, including Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, seeking asylum without success.
Shortly afterwards, he turned up in the UK and, having applied for asylum, he and his family at first stayed in Brent, North London before moving to Glasgow in autumn 2009. His case for asylum in the UK was based on his belief that because of an alleged deal between Stephen Harper, the Canadian Prime Minister, and former President Putin of Russia, he would be killed by Canadian security agents if he was returned there. He still had a Canadian passport.
Those who had dealings with the Serykh family and have spoken to The Times say he was 90 per cent lucid and 10 per cent “off the wall”.
When the UK authorities rejected his application for asylum last year, on the ground that he still had refugee status in Canada, Mr Serykh approached three Glasgow solicitors, all experts in handling asylum issues, to take up his case, but they said they could not help him. He then sent a letter of appeal to the Queen and used it to repeat his fantasy that her life was at risk from the Canadian Government.
One senior source told The Times: “No removal order had been issued. They were not under imminent threat of deportation but their financial support of £35 a week each had been removed in mid February.
“However, they were going to be evicted from their home in the YMCA block in the Red Road on Sunday and they took their own lives”.
Reports yesterday suggested the family leapt from the balcony of their flat on Sunday morning either holding hands or joined together by a rope. They apparently used a wardrobe to break through the wire security mesh on the balcony. Last night, when police forensic science tents were removed, all that remained of the incident were three deep indentations in the turf where their bodies landed.
Residents said they knew little about the trio, and had barely seen them since they moved in about two months ago. Carol Craig, 51, who lives in the flat next door, said: “The police woke me at 10am to tell me the neighbours had jumped. I had only seen them on Saturday for the first time.”
Ms Craig thought they had been living in the flat for about two months. She described the woman as being in her late 30s or 40s.

After reading this story, I just could not believe it. I had seen a program aired on a Canadian television network, about a Russian man who said that he had worked for the KGB, had a wife and child, and who was asking for asylum in Canada. Turns out that they are not the same man, woman and child, but the cases are very similar. Anyone interesting in reading the National Post Story about them can follow the links below about Mikhail Lennikov.

John

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2496112

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/ID=1305549819