Father threatens suicide in protest at soldier's death (UK)

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http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/29/nhang29.xml

Father threatens suicide in protest at soldier's death
By Sally Pook and Charles Clover
(Filed: 29/09/2004)

The father of a soldier killed in Iraq threatened to hang himself on the West Pier in Brighton yesterday, moments before Tony Blair's speech at the Labour Party conference.

Reginald Keys climbed a pylon at the front of the pier with a noose tied around his neck and told police he would jump.

He called the Prime Minister a war criminal and demanded an apology for the death of his son, Lance-Corporal Thomas Richard Keys, 20, who was killed near Basra in June last year.

Mr Keys, 52, from Bala, north Wales, was persuaded to climb down after an hour and, clearly distraught, was comforted by police officers.
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