Man 'emailed by Betfair after taking own life'

A man who took his own life after losing thousands of pounds gambling was sent an email from Betfair "prompting" him to log into his account after his death, the High Court has heard.

Luke Ashton, from Leicester, was 40 when he died on 22 April 2021, with a coroner later concluding that a gambling disorder was a contributing factor.

His widow, Annie Ashton, is bringing legal action against TSE Malta, which trades as Betfair in the UK, saying the company failed to adequately protect her late husband.

Betfair denies that it owed a duty of care towards Luke Ashton and is defending the claim.

Lawyers for the company said Ashton was also gambling elsewhere and it had a "sophisticated set of safer gambling procedures" which "were at all times correctly applied".

In a witness statement used in the civil trial, which was originally written for an inquest in 2023, his widow said she logged into her husband's gambling and bank accounts after his death.

"I also had a look at Luke's email account and saw he had received an email from Betfair after his death prompting Luke to log into [his] account in order to access his 'rewards'," she said.

"This made me very angry and I feel strongly that these kind of communications from gambling operators would have contributed to Luke being unable to escape his gambling problems."

In a separate witness statement for the High Court trial, she said the "vast majority" of her husband's gambling in the three years before his death was with Betfair, as opposed to other companies.

When she looked at his phone after he died, "the only gambling-related app" on there was from Betfair, she added.

Jonathan Hough KC, for Betfair, suggested during cross-examination that her husband had other worries beyond gambling in the lead-up to his death.

He had taken extra work as a delivery driver to supplement his earnings from the print company Greenshires, in Leicester, which had reduced during the lockdown periods from 2020.

Shortly before he died, Ashton expressed his concern to friends and colleagues about the company going bust, Hough said, as well as putting on weight.

Annie Ashton said her husband "didn't look like he had put on lots of weight", and said he did not share worries over work with her.

The trial, which is expected to finish on 19 June, continues.

• If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, support is available via the BBC Action Line

Listen to BBC Radio Leicester on Sounds and follow BBC Leicester on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.