Mama knows best –

Sep. 19, 2020 – “I’ve got three dents in my head and a foot-long scar.”

Matt, who now lives in Branston, received compensation for the assault, was spiralling in addiction and spent the money on alcohol.

He said: “I had trouble sleeping and the drink would knock me out.

“After that I went downhill.

“I joined the Army and there was a big drinking culture.

“You work hard then you have a drink to take the edge off.”

Matt married and was delighted when he and his wife found out they were expecting a baby.

But his son, Joseph, was born with anencephaly, a serious birth defect when a child is born without parts of the brain and skull.

Matt told Burton Live the tot died in his arms in 2008.

He said: “I knew he was going to die, but he died in my arms and I couldn’t handle it.

“I went off the rails and it ruined my marriage.”

Since then, Matt has met someone else and gone on to have another child, but has always battled with drink and would often take himself into a room and drink alone.

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