A high-flying trainee who worked with a major accountancy firm took his own life just minutes after being told he had been sacked over Zoom, an inquest heard.
Oliver Bredski, 21, was found dead by his sister Rachel in the loft of their family home in Kersal and had left a note reading: "I've been sacked."
He had logged onto his Deloitte virtual performance review meeting via video call, then, shortly after, went upstairs in his parents' home and took his own life.
Oliver was resuscitated by paramedics but he was left with severe brain injuries and was in a coma until his life support was switched off eleven months later.
An inquest heard Oliver's Zoom call with an executive at Deloitte lasted for only 14 minutes on August 25, 2020, the Manchester Evening News reports.
The call had ended at 11.17am, and he was found minutes later at 11.30am.
He died on July 30 of last year.
After a coroner heard details of the the tragedy, Oliver's father Martin, 62, a company director, who who runs a retail firm said: "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."
The hearing in Rochdale was told Oliver had been hired as a BrightStart trainee business analyst with Deloitte based in London, in December 2019.
Oliver's bosses told the inquest that he was not doing well in comparison to other trainee analysts and he was put on a series of reviews.
Complaints included him watching Netflix at work and also working from the offices of rival firm Price Waterhouse Cooper during lockdown, because he had friends there.
Line manager and People Leader Miss 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".
She said she was asked to support Oliver in the Zoom meeting of August 25 with two senior executives.
Oliver logged in at 10.59 and was asked to put forward any reason for his low performance.
Senior executive Nick Smith stopped the meeting at 11.09 and it resumed at 11.13 when Oliver was told he was dismissed.
The remaining four minutes were taken up with administrative matters related to the decision.
Mr Smith told the inquest that the company had not been told of Oliver's previous history of mental health problems.
Yet, Oliver had bravely gone public in the Guardian newspaper and other publications online in 2018 about his battle against severe anxiety and depression.
Mr Smith said: "This was a tragic set of events, a unique 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. I have thought long and hard about that meeting and what could have happened."
The inquest was told Oliver had seen a therapist in his teens for periods of depression and in November 2017, was going to attempt to take his own life.
His father told the hearing: ''Sadly we know there were many dark times when Oliver found himself surrounded by dark clouds but he had learnt how to manage his issues and when the darkness came, he fought back.
"From the low point of 2017 he taught himself to cope with what life could throw at him and overcame many challenges. He never shied away from being open and was determined to use his experiences to help others."
Mr Bredski said that Oliver became an activist with the mental health charity Youngminds which became "a massive part of his life".
"He spoke about his struggles to diverse audiences from school kids to City grandees. For such a young man, he spoke with clarity and passion and he transfixed them all," he said.
"He was more than a volunteer for them, he was part of the Youngminds family. They called him a pioneer and an inspiration. They loved him and they were proud of him.
"We have so many different memories of what Oliver did that it's difficult to believe that he was only 21. Our beautiful boy was taken away but our memories will always be with us.
"His senseless passing has devastated us and his many friends have also found it difficult to cope."
In summing up, Coroner Catherine McKenna said that Oliver did not appreciate that he might be sacked at the Zoom meeting and was "shocked and taken by surprise " by the decision.
The coroner said that she was satisfied that no one in the meeting was aware of Oliver's previous mental health problems.
She also ruled that Oliver's suicide was not premeditated and there was no evidence to suggest he planned to end his life as he had planned a golfing holiday in the Cotswolds.
Recording a narrative conclusion, Mrs McKenna said: "The meeting ended at 11.17am and his sister came home at 11.30am and that is a very short time for Oliver to have taken his action.
"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."
The Samaritans is available 24/7 if you need to talk. You can contact them for free by calling 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or head to the website to find your nearest branch. You matter.
