The family of a 23-year-old mum-of-two who took her own life said she 'never got the help she needed'.
Brooke O'Connor tragically died on April 11, 2020, LancsLive reports. She had struggled with low self-esteem and anxiety from an early age and during her time at school her issues were often confused for behavioural problems, an inquest heard.
Brooke sadly began self-harming when she was just 14-years-old. She had attended A&E and sought help from mental health services on a number of occasions, but her mum Stacey Atkinson felt she 'never got the help she needed'.
READ MORE: Tragic boy, 15, found dead in woods didn't mean to end his life, coroner says
At an inquest at Preston Coroners' Court yesterday (November 18), Stacey told coroner Richard Taylor: "She didn't want to die, she just wanted help, and if she had got the help she needed my two grandsons, who are now four and three, would still have their mum.
"I just hope that things improve and no more families have to go through what we have gone through and that Brooke's death is not in vain."
Brooke, a talented hairdresser, leaves behind two sons Blake and Mason. The inquest heard that Brooke's family had 'lost respect' for Lancashire Constabulary since her death.
Stacey recalled how, as a devout Catholic family, they had asked Brooke's priest to visit her home shortly after she was found. "Since that day my respect and admiration for the police has gone," Stacey said.
"We are practising Catholics and on that day the first person to arrive was the priest. He wanted to give Brooke her last rites and the police officers wouldn't allow him near her.
"Our priest has served in the Falklands and said prayers over mass graves and he said he's never experienced a police officer deny anybody of their last rites."
The inquest heard that, as police had refused the priest's request in order to preserve what they thought could potentially be a crime scene, he had offered to say prayers from the hallway but this was also denied. Detective Inspector Steve Harry apologised to Brooke's family and said: "I'm extremely disappointed you feel that way.
"Had I been aware I could have made some arrangements afterwards."
The inquest heard how Brooke suffered with low self-esteem and social media such as Instagram triggered this. She had also been subjected to bullying and the night before she was found her car had been vandalised which Stacey believes was what 'tipped her over the edge'.
After the coroner returned a conclusion of suicide, Stacey paid tribute to her daughter. She told LancsLive: "She was giddy, daft and hilarious.
"She didn't have a bad bone in her body. Her family was everything to her and she worshipped her boys. She was kind, considerate and loving and she worried more about other people than herself. She loved her brother and sister and was very close to her grandparents.
"She was a brilliant friend and she was just so loving. When she died, because we couldn't have a proper funeral because of Covid, the whole of Fleetwood lined the streets as she was taken to the cemetery - there were hundreds of people there all throwing roses."
Read more of today's top stories here
READ NEXT:
- Fear, desperation and £50 if you're lucky... life begging at traffic lights on the ring road
- Everyone has had enough on the estate where it took a child's death for the country to listen
- The fairytale village with great pubs and an enchanted tree 30 minutes from Manchester
- T his all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet in Stockport is great value - but has some strict terms and conditions
- Masked 'Manc' gang snatch Rolex watches and gems in terrifying £100,000 Wilmslow raid
