A WOMAN WHO HAD SUFFERED MENTAL ILLNESS WAS FOUN

A WOMAN WHO HAD SUFFERED MENTAL ILLNESS WAS FOUND HANGING

FROM HER KITCHEN DOOR BY A PIECE OF STRING, AN INQUEST HEARD

ON FRIDAY.

FLORENCE GASKILL, 79, A RETIRED SEAMSTRESS OF CARHOLME

ROAD, FOREST HILL, WAS FOUND BY POLICE AFTER A VISITING NURSE

COMPLAINED SHE COULD NOT GET INTO THE OLD LADY’S FLAT.

MRS ANN MONBLAT, A PSYCHIATRIC COMMUNITY NURSE, TOLD THE

INQUEST AT SOUTHWARK CORONERS COURT:

‘I USED TO VISIT HER ONCE A FORTNIGHT, AND MY TEAM HAD KNOWN

HER FOR 18 MONTHS.

I KNOW SHE HAD BEEN DEPRESSED AND UNHAPPY AND

WHEN I WENT TO GIVE HER AN INJECTION, I COULDN’T GET IN.

‘

PC MARK DORRINGTON SAID HE GOT INTO THE FLAT AND FOUND MRS

GASKILL’S BODY.

‘SHE HAD NOT BEEN SEEN FOR A WEEK WHEN THE POLICE WERE

CALLED,’ HE CONTINUED.

‘I PUSHED OPEN THE KITCHEN DOOR AND THERE WAS

A LOT OF RESISTANCE FROM THE BACK OF THE DOOR.

‘A PIECE OF STRING HAD BEEN TIED ROUND THE TOP OF THE HINGE

AND SHE WAS HANGING FROM IT.

‘

PATHOLOGIST DR MICHAEL HEATH OF THE LONDON HOSPITAL SAID:

‘THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF ALCOHOL OR DRUGS.

SHE DIED FROM

HANGING.

‘

RECORDING A VERDICT THAT MRS GASKILL KILLED HERSELF, CORONER DR

ARTHUR GORDON DAVIS SAID: ‘SHE HAD PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIA AND HAD

BEEN DEPRESSED.

ALTHOUGH SHE HAD MADE NO THREAT TO TAKE HER OWN

LIFE, THERE IS OBVIOUSLY NO OTHER CAUSE OF HER DEATH.

‘

ENDS.