Banks blamed for father’s suicide

Robert McKinnie hanged himself at his Isle of Wight home in February after he received around 15 calls per day from banks demanding repayment for debt.

“They were aggressive, threatening calls, threatening him that he would lose his home and with insolvency,” said his widow, Suzanne.

Father-of-two Mr McKinnie owned Ram Electricals but his family said that big businesses did not pay the firm for work completed which pushed it to the brink of bankruptcy.

With banks demanded repayment on personal loans, Mrs McKinnie said that the constant harassment led her husband to go from a “happy-go-lucky type” to a recluse.

She demanded the creation of regulatory authority to stop banks from committing what she saw as harassment over debt.