Stormont MLA Alex Easton went down 'dark route' after parents died in fire

Alex Easton said he has experienced flashbacks, insomnia and depression

A Stormont politician whose parents died in a house fire last year is urging anyone struggling with their mental health to seek help.

Alex Easton's elderly parents, Alec and Ann Easton, died after a blaze at their County Down home in January 2023.

In an interview with Belfast Live, he revealed that he has since developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

He told the BBC that having to identify his parents' bodies has led to flashbacks, insomnia and depression.

"Don't go down that dark route, it's lonely and I wouldn't want anyone to feel the way I did," Mr Easton told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.

But the independent assembly member said help came from his GP "just at the right time" after his PTSD came to a head last summer.

"My sleep had absolutely gone to pot and I just kept driving and driving at my work and it just overwhelmed me," he recalled.

"One day my GP just phoned me out of the blue and he sat me down basically and chatted through what was going on.

"He got me on medication and got me help with a counsellor - that probably was the thing that helped me, probably saved me to be honest with you."

The fire at the house in Dellmount Park in Bangor was reported at about 08:45 GMT on 23 January 2023

Mr Easton is an independent member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for North Down, but for almost two decades he represented the DUP.

On the morning of 23 January 2023, he arrived at his parents' house in Dellmount Park in Bangor, County Down, to witness the property covered in a black wall of smoke and firefighters already at the scene.

His parents, who were in their 80s, were treated for their injuries, but both died at the scene.

He attended the scene with his brother and sister.

"One of us had to go and identify them out the back of the house, so I chose to do that because I didn't want them to see potentially what it was going to be like," he recalled.

"I felt the whole world went really silent as I walked round that house.

"What I saw wasn't particularly pleasant. You get flashbacks of that and it's very difficult."

'Anything to keep my mind off it'

Following his parents' joint funeral in Bangor, the assembly member threw himself back into his job, seeking a distraction from the shock he had suffered.

"I would go out at night around housing estates looking for street lights to report, just to do anything to keep my mind off it."

However, not dealing with his trauma only made things worse.

"I would wake up with flashes of my parents lying in the back garden," Mr Easton said.

"Specific things" from that day kept returning to his mind.

"My dad had a really long white beard and when I identified him his beard was black," he said.

"And my mum - there was a trickle of blood running down her left arm and that stuck in my consciousness."

Alec and Ann Easton, who were in their 80s, both died at the scene

Mr Easton told the programme he feels a form of survivors' guilt over his parents' death.

His elderly father was disabled, having had both his legs amputated as a result of complications from diabetes.

"My dad - he would have phoned me at eight o'clock every morning and that morning there was no phone call and I thought he had maybe slept in.

"You sort of wonder: 'Dad, if you had only phoned me or something, I could have come and tried to save you'.

"And I would have, if I could have."

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, you can visit BBC Action Line.