Tragic meningitis dad Paul Liddell will never see baby

Nov 18 2008 by Jon Tunney, The Journal

A YOUNG father-to-be was killed by meningitis just a month before his baby was due.

Paul Liddell, 20, and partner Sarah Pritchard had even picked out a name for their little girl, but he died before getting the chance to meet her.

Sarah, who now faces bringing up Kacey-Leigh without her dad, yesterday told how he decided not to go to A&E even though the couple were in hospital for an ante-natal session.

Mr Liddell was later found dead at his home in Stanley, County Durham.

Police eventually broke into his flat after concerned friends were unable to contact him. He had been complaining of a severe headache.

Family members spoke of their heartache and paid tribute to a gentle, shy man who preferred cosy nights in with his family to nights on the town. It is a second tragedy for the Liddells. Paul’s father, Terry, died of septicaemia at the age of 36.

Sarah, 20, of Whinside, Stanley, said: “We just can’t believe it. He had been taking paracetamol for his headache, which was strange because he never used to like taking anything. We had been to the hospital for an ante-natal session and we went past the A&E ward and I said he should go and tell them. But he would never got to the doctor.

“He went home to his flat and I went back to my mum’s. I was worried because he stopped replying to my texts.

“We’d had a bit of a row, but I knew we were OK because he sent me a text saying: ‘I’m sorry, it’s just because my head was hurting’.”

The next day was bonfire night, but Mr Liddell did not show up for the planned family celebration at his mother Colleen’s home. Friends were alarmed, but he had been talking about visiting friends in Middlesbrough. After five days, younger brother Stephen, 12, and sister Rachel, 11, called at his flat in Percy Terrace, New Kyo.

Grandmother Joyce, 72, of Windsor Drive, said: “We thought he might have gone to stay with friends, but his dog was at home. Stephen and Rachel went round in the pouring rain knocking on the door, but we couldn’t get him.”

Police were eventually called to break down the door and Mr Liddell’s body was found. A post-mortem was carried out and meningitis was revealed to be the cause of death.

Sarah, who worked at Asda in Stanley, said: “We just can’t believe it. He was looking forward to seeing the baby, he used to call her ‘my little princess’.

“We had been to the hospital together and listened to her heart beating.

“We decided on Kacey for a name, but he always liked the name Leigh, so I’m going to call her Kacey-Leigh now to always remember him. He always said he wanted to be the father he never had, after he lost his own dad.

“There was nothing he wouldn’t do for us. He would come and meet me after work at 3.30 in the morning even though he would have to be up at 6 just so I wouldn’t have to walk home alone.”

Mr Liddell grew up in Stanley, attending the Methodist Sunday School and later joining the boys’ brigade.

The rap music fan and occasional fisherman worked in a local Tesco store and had ambitions to become a car mechanic.

A funeral will be held at Catchgate Methodist Church today followed by a cremation at Mountsett Crematorium.