Double tragedy as devoted daughter kills herself after finding her mum dead

An inquest heard, a grief-stricken daughter killed herself after finding her mother dead at their Chelmsley Wood home – and left “strategically placed” notes telling emergency services where to find her body.

48-year-old Pamela Dunn was already being treated for depression when she lost her mum, Audrey Dunn.

The corpses of the mother-and-daughter were found by worried neighbours at their home in Raglan Way on 17th December last year.

Det Insp Shaun Egan said Audrey, aged 80, was lying upstairs and her daughter, who used to work for Npower, was discovered hanged nearby.

A major investigation was launched because Audrey had suffered a head wound and it was not clear how she had died.

Mr Egan said: “Pamela had left notes strategically placed all around the house for the ambulance service, police and their friends.

“One told us where the keys were, while another said: ‘This is where I’ll be.’

“We concluded that Audrey died and Pamela decided to take her own life after trying to care for her but realised she was dead.”

Pathologist Nicholas Hunt could not say how Audrey died because of the condition of her remains.

But he said it was highly possible she suffered a stroke or heart attack and injured her head as she fell.

The inquest heard Pamela had been treated by Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Trust for anxiety and depression after she lost her job as an npower administrator.

Community psychiatric nurse Simon Wills said she told him last September that she “might consider” harming herself unless her job issue was resolved.

The hearing was also told that a Birmingham social services support worker who regularly met Pamela observed her becoming more dishevelled, not washing herself and “rambling on about npower”.

Their last contact came on 9th December.

Psychiatrist Dinesh McGanty, who reviewed the Trust’s actions after her death, said: “Nothing could have changed the outcome for Pamela.

“The root cause was the death of her mum, with whom she was very close.”

Senior Birmingham coroner Louise Hunt agreed, saying: “Once Audrey had passed away, she couldn’t face going on so took her own life”.

She concluded that Audrey died of natural causes, while Pamela committed suicide.

Read more: http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/double-tragedy-devoted-daughter-kills-11223472