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In the last few months of his life, Craig Monk attempted several overdoses and was described as '​vulnerab​le'​ by his family.

An accident a few years before had resulted in the partial amputation of his leg and he had suffered unnecessary, and anxiety-inducing, obstructions in receiving state assistance - even though his disability was clear for all see.

Over time he slipped further into poverty, the ends could no longer meet.

Like Craig Monk, Helen and Mark Mullins ended their lives through suicide because they could not face the prospect of living in dire poverty.

Finally, the fear of there not being a light at the end of his personal tunnel overwhelmed him and Mr. Monk, a 43-year-old from Burnley, was found hanging in his home in October last year.

I would love to say this is an anomaly, a one-off. That here was someone who was psychologically unhinged and motivated by his own selfish considerations. I cannot. For there is far more to it than that.

As I write there have been almost 150 deaths related to sick and disabled citizens who fear being plunged further into poverty as our benefit system - designed to protect the vulnerable - increasingly cuts people adrift leaving them to fend for themselves.

For some people the solution is clear and irreversible - as it appeared to be for Mr. Monk.

And, for that matter, Helen and Mark Mullins.

The Mullins had physical and mental disabilities to contend with and had spent months fighting the notoriously complex disability process at the Department for Work and Pensions.

Starved, literally, of sufficient financial assistance, the couple'​s weekly food intake was bolstered by the vegetables they received from a soup kitchen in Coventry, a 12-mile round trip that they made weekly on foot.

The Mullins couldn'​t afford a fridge and so kept food in the garden shed. Eventually they could no longer stretch their non-existent budget to heating their home and they spent their remaining months living in one room.

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