John Croucher, father of missing teenager Leah Croucher, has spoken of the devastating impact her disappearance had on his son Haydon, who took his own life nine months after Leah vanished. In an interview on This Morning with hosts Cat Deeley and Ben Shephard, John described how Haydon was 'destroyed mentally' by the ordeal and was tormented by people online.
Family's ordeal detailed in new documentary
Leah, 19, disappeared on her way to work in Milton Keynes on February 15, 2019. Her body was found more than three years later, just minutes from where she was last seen. During the search, the family were wrongly accused by online sleuths of being involved in her death. John and Claire Croucher have now told their story in a new documentary, The Search for Leah Croucher: A Parent's Nightmare, airing on Tuesday and Wednesday at 9pm on U&W.
On Tuesday's This Morning, Cat Deeley said: "The other person it hit really hard was Haydon. When all the investigations started happening, he handed out leaflets, he tried his very, very best, but it affected him mentally in the end, didn't it?"
Father describes son's struggle
John explained how close Haydon was to his sister. "He just couldn't cope. It destroyed him mentally, and the people played with him online. They tormented him, and it was just horrific to watch. There was no getting through to Haydon to try and calm him down." He added that Haydon suffered from bipolar and paranoia, which made things worse.
John said he had to step back for Claire's sake and his own sake to try and find Leah. He said: "It was like, 'Haydon, you're going to have to go and get help, [your] mum's going to have to help you.'" He also noted that Haydon's mother was also a victim, saying: "She's suffering. How do you console a mother who has to read this evil stuff online about her son."
Loss of both children
Ben Shephard said: "Tragically, it was too much for Haydon in the end as well, wasn't it? So, you lost Leah and you lost Haydon. At that stage, you still didn't know what had happened to Leah."
John also spoke about Leah's funeral, saying: "We had months to plan Leah's funeral. If you lose a loved one, it's days to weeks. Ours was months because of forensic tests that had to be done on Leah." He said they couldn't dress Leah as they would normally, so they decided to dress her coffin instead. "Let's give her a princess funeral. And that's what we did."
Claire said the number of mourners who lined the streets for the funeral in 2023 was "heartwarming", adding: "It was crazy how many people came to pay their respects."
This Morning airs weekdays on ITV at 10am. The documentary airs Tuesday and Wednesday at 9pm on U&W. Samaritans are available day or night, 365 days a year, on 116 123 or at samaritans.org.
