A woman told bystanders "just leave me, don't harm yourselves" as she died in a car fire tragedy.
Debbie Devereux, who was born in Liverpool, died at the burns unit of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in September last year after setting her own car on fire. The retired police worker was living in Afonwen, Mold at the time, reports North Wales Live.
The 59-year-old was found by the side of the A543 between Denbigh and Pentrefoelas. The retired PCSO's clothes were on fire and she was behind her Nissan Note which was also ablaze.
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Fire investigator Robert Mason told the inquest that the most likely cause of the fire was a deliberate ignition on Ms Devereux's part. Mr Mason told the court that "instinct had driven her out of the car but unfortunately she was too badly injured at that point to move further away."
A Welsh Water engineer, who was working in the area at the time, found Ms Devereux and ran to a nearby farm to ask for a fire extinguisher. On his way, he passed two BT Openreach engineers who also rushed to Ms Devereux's aid. The Openreach engineers called the emergency services who arrived at the scene around 15 minutes later, just after 11am on September 23, 2021.
The engineers, a farmer and other members of the public fought to save her life. Ms Devereux told bystanders to "just leave me, don't harm yourselves" as they rushed to her aid, a resumed inquest at Ruthin County Hall heard.
Kate Sutherland, who adjourned the inquest back in March after "there had been some evidence that came to light on the day that had not been put to me before", recorded a medical cause of death of multi-organ failure due to third degree burns to 97% of her body and a conclusion of suicide at the resumed inquest today. The injuries she sustained in the fire were deemed non-survivable upon her arrival at the Birmingham hospital and she was given comfort care before she died with family by her side.
Ms Devereux had been struggling with her mental health from 2019 and retired from North Wales Police in 2020 as a result. She had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was under the care the community mental health team at the time of her death.
On the day before she died, she received a home visit and was in low mood after a period of improvement earlier in the month. An investigation found that the care that Ms Devereux received from mental health services was appropriate.
Following her conclusion, the coroner said that Ms Devereux was "clearly troubled but had the support of the community mental health team and those around her".
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