A man has claimed at an inquest that his 49-year-old brother who suffered from long-term paranoid schizophrenia had been “basically ditched” by the public health and social services.
Adrian Weckler was speaking about his late brother Simon who died at his home at Mornington, Co Meath, on March 31st, 2025. Simon Weckler was a son of the RTÉ newsreader and author, the late Deirdre Purcell.
Adrian Weckler, his brother’s primary carer and advocate after their mother died in 2023, told coroner for Co Meath Nathaniel Lacy that his brother had suffered from the condition for 20 years.
He had been prescribed a lot of medication and was unable to work. He lived in an annexe at the rear of the family home in Mornington.
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Adrian Weckler, an Irish Independent journalist, lived a good distance apart from his brother. Simon had also been in constant contact with his stepfather Kevin Healy.
“Simon was socially isolated despite a handful of friends and their loyalty to him. My last conversation with Simon was on March 24th, 2025. He asked me to bring him to Blanchardstown to see a priest whom he thought might perform an exorcism for him. I halfheartedly agreed to bring him. The conversation was pleasant and ended well.”
Mr Weckler said he rang Simon on March 26th as he wanted to discuss a new course of treatment in a Health Service Executive specialist unit in Highfield, Drumcondra, but there was no reply.
He checked again on March 27th, on March 28th and on March 30th but there was no response. Mr Weckler said he got a message from Mr Healy saying Simon had died.
In reply to questions from the coroner, Mr Weckler said Simon had been an inpatient at Highfield, Drumcondra*. He had also been in St Patrick’s and John of God’s.
He had brought Simon to his GP, who had signed forms to have Simon involuntarily admitted at Crosslanes mental health facility in Drogheda.
After he was discharged from Drogheda, he died a week later.
Asked by the coroner if an aftercare system had been put in place, Mr Weckler replied: “Little to none. I’m not aware of the specifics but typically there was very little. There was a system of social welfare and social care in place but that had become very strained and threadbare.”
Kevin Healy in a statement read to the inquest by Garda Insp Alan Roughneen said he often collected medical prescriptions for Simon. He was almost sure he collected a prescription on March 24th and passed it to Simon at his door. They had a conversation and he highlighted to Simon the chemist’s advice that this was not a repeat prescription. The last time he had a conversation was either on 26th or 27th and he was “agitated and concerned that he was under threat from people and advised me that I was at risk as well”.
By March 30th he became concerned when he hadn’t seen or heard from him. On Monday, March 31st, he decided to visit the annexe and found Simon deceased.
Consultant pathologist Prof Muna Sabah, who conducted a postmortem, said the only abnormality shown in the body was the liver, which showed steatosis. The deceased’s blood sample was negative for alcohol. He had a mixture of medication present.
Two of the prescribed drugs were present at therapeutic levels, however clozapine (used to treat schizophrenia) at “lethal” levels (10 times the therapeutic levels). She concluded that death was due to drug toxicity and a verdict to this effect was returned by the coroner.
He and Insp Roughneen extended their condolences to the family of the deceased.
* This article was amended on January 13th
