‘His anger got bigger’: ministers urged to get serious about gamblers’ deaths

theguardian.com:

When Julie Martin’s 16-year-old son rang as she drove home from work, his words made her blood run cold. “Don’t come home. Dad’s at the front door.”

His father, Bylent “Bill” Troshupa, was subject to a restraining order barring him from the family home after violent rages. His sudden arrival, nearly a year later, spelled danger.

As Martin approached from the back of the housing estate in Waltham Abbey, Essex, where the family had lived, she saw smoke rising. It was 90 minutes later, when police finally let her see her son, that she discovered the horror that had unfolded.

“[Bill] had been screaming and shouting at the door but my son wouldn’t let him in. Bill had a knife with him. Then he stood there, covered himself in petrol and lit himself on fire.”

The kitchen of the family home looks directly out on to their front drive. Her son, whose name has been withheld, witnessed everything.

Troshupa died in hospital later that night. Martin, with help from neighbours, spent the early hours cleaning up outside. She was determined there would be no evidence of the horrific scene left for her son to see when he woke up.

Her husband’s suicide, in November 2021, was the culmination of a years-long downward spiral that Martin says was inextricably linked to his heavy gambling. She is among a growing number of campaigners calling on the government to impose tougher regulations on gambling.

But, with a government white paper on the proposals expected within days, reports suggest that policies put forward by the gambling minister, Chris Philp, will be watered down, diluted by reluctance from the Treasury to accept anything that might affect the tax take.

This, Martin believes, would mean more families experiencing horrors like those she