Anti-vaxxer dies of Covid nine days after saying virus is ‘nothing to be afraid of’
Cambridge-educated Leslie Lawrenson, 58, said the disease was 'no more than a normal cold'.
An anti-vaxxer died of coronavirus despite downplaying his symptoms and claiming the disease was ‘no more than a normal cold’.
Leslie Lawrenson, 58, died at home in Bournemouth on July 2 and had no underlying health conditions.
Just nine days before, he shared a video of himself with his followers saying he trusted his immune system and would not go to hospital.
Now his long-term partner Amanda Mitchell, 56, and his stepchildren are urging people not to follow the same path and instead get the vaccine.
The Cambridge-educated solicitor was apparently ‘brainwashed by the stuff he was seeing on YouTube and social media’ and told his family more people would die from the vaccine than Covid-19, his stepdaughter Carla Hodges said.
Mr Lawrenson recorded a video at around 11pm on June 23, when he had a high temperature and was suffering with aches, pains and shivers.
Stopping to cough several times, he said: ‘I’ll gladly take [coronavirus]. Get the antibodies in my blood and also experience that it’s nothing to be afraid of.
‘No more than a normal cold. So I hope I’ve got it. I hope it is Covid. Because I’d rather have the antibodies in my blood than take the jabs.
‘If my test proves positive with Covid, I’m going to let my immune system ride it out. I’m not going to go to hospital if it gets no worse than this.
‘I am nowhere near needing to be hospitalised. I won’t impose myself on NHS resources.’
The next day Mr Lawrenson posted another video saying his symptoms had worsened with a fever which left him so hot ‘you could fry an egg on his head’ and pain all over his body.
He said the scariest thing was feeling himself struggle to breathe and ‘gasping for air a little bit’. Nevertheless he decided not to call an ambulance because he did not feel like he was ‘in danger’.
By July 2, Mr Lawrenson’s condition became so bad his family eventually called an ambulance.
The paramedics checked on him before leaving. Just 10 minutes later, Mr Lawrenson’s stepson found him dead in his own bed.
That same day Ms Mitchell, who had also decided not to get vaccinated despite having diabetes and hypertension, was admitted to hospital with coronavirus-related pneumonia.
She recently told the Stephen Nolan programme on BBC Radio 5 Live that although she feels ‘foolish’ now, she believed her partner because he was ‘highly educated’.
She said he told her: ‘It’s a gene thing, an experimental thing. You’re putting something in your body that hasn’t been thoroughly tested.’
Now Ms Mitchell has regrets over putting her children at risk.
She went on: ‘Les made a terrible mistake and he’s paid the ultimate price for that. I’m trying to stop any other family suffering a loss and the total devastation that we are going through.’
She said she would be accepting the vaccine as soon as doctors said she was fit enough.
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