A HEARTBROKEN fiance refused kidney treatment after telling his family he couldn’t bear to live without his childhood sweetheart.
Craig Jackson received a kidney transplant from his father in 2017 but stopped dialysis treatment earlier this year and tragically passed away in January.
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His grieving family have now revealed that Craig told them he “couldn’t bear to live without his childhood sweetheart”, Cherry Turner, who took her own life in 2022.
Speaking to The Mirror Craig’s distraught mother Susan, 59, revealed the extent of the double tragedy stemming from the bungled police raid.
She said: “‘My son just decided to give up the treatment needed after the kidney transplant. If Cherry was still alive today, Craig would still be alive.
“I begged and begged and begged him to go for treatment. I moved into his home to look after him. He said ‘Mam, I love you, but I cannot be without Cherry.”
“They were childhood sweethearts, they had been together since the age of 13. Cherry was such a beautiful person, inside and out, she was like a daughter to me.”
Cherry killed herself after a botched police raid on her home that saw Craig arrested at gunpoint in a case of mistaken identity.
She is said to have developed an anxiety disorder after the chaotic raid on her house in Newcastle.
Cherry and Craig had been together since they were just 13-years-old, watching her long term partner handcuffed in such a dramatic raid had a lasting impact on Cherry an inquest has heard.
Following the bungled police raid Craig was carted off in his underwear by armed cops.
Cherry was left shaking and distraught by the sudden raid with South Tyneside Coroners Court recording a verdict that the raid “sparked an anxiety disorder that led to her suicide.”
Northumbria Police later admitted that they had “got the wrong man.”
Officers investigating a “serious crime” in the area had mistaken Craig for another man with the same name as him.
It took a lengthy two months before the couple were notified that Northumbria Police were no longer investigating Craig.
Craig’s sister-in-law previously told how he had been fighting kidney failure for a decade, receiving a transplant from his father Ian.
In a statement taken before his tragic death Craig described the terrifying raid on he and Cherry’s home, he said: “I saw green dots reflecting from the wall from the armed police, dogs were barking, sirens were blaring and I was pinned to the ground.”
The inquest was told that police had quickly realised they arrested the wrong man but took months to notify the couple.
The court was told that officers exchanged messages where they spoke about not getting the right man.
Paul Dunn, the solicitor representing Ms Turner’s family said: “This was not a routine knock on the door, it was the most intrusive of searches, involving multiple police vehicles, an armed response team, all with weapons which were trained on the bodies of Cherry Turner and Craig Jackson.
“It was a full on search which we now know to have had dire consequences.”
The inquest heard that the delay in notifying the couple that Craig was no longer being investigated led Cherry to feel the investigation was “not all over.”
Mr Dunn would tell the court how Cherry expected the police to come back and feared they had potentially bugged her house.
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EVERY 90 minutes in the UK a life is lost to suicide
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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.
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Speaking after the inquest, Ms Turner’s father David Turner told the BBC that their family had been living “a life sentence of pain.”
Craig’s brother Jake Mottram said: “The police knew they’d got the wrong man the next day and should have put it right there and then.
“If they had, Cherry’s mental health would not have deteriorated.”
Cherry’s heartbroken family released and emotional statement on social media.
Family member Paula Gray said on behalf of the grieving family: “Following the devastating loss of our beautiful Cherry Turner, our family has endured over three long years of waiting for answers.
“This week, we finally stood together at the inquest, side by side with my sister Michelle, my brother-in-law Dave, Cherry’s sister Dani and her fiancé Jake, and Jacko’s family, his mam Sue, dad Ian, sister Sam and their families. And Cherry and Jacko’s close friends. Cherry’s younger brother, though unable to be there, carries this grief as deeply as we all do.
“Nothing can truly put into words the pain Michelle and Dave have lived through, nor the heartbreak felt by Dani, Jake, and Cherry’s younger brother.
“As a family, our lives have been changed forever.”
Continuing Paula Grey said she hoped Cherry and Craig’s story would be heard and never forgotten.
She praised the tragic couple’s love for each other saying the pair’s memory would “remain eternal.”
A spokesperson for Northumbria Police said: “We conducted an investigation and apologised to Cherry’s family and Craig Jackson for failings identified.
“We will now take time to carefully consider the findings of the inquest.”
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