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 Matilda Callaghan |
Tragedy of star dieter’s ‘unexplained’ death
Coroner unable to say how woman ‘desperate to slim’ died
AN inquest into the death of a dangerously overweight woman could not determine if a crash diet had killed her.
Matilda Callaghan, 25, known affectionately as Tillie, died in January after losing 10 stone in six months on the Lighterlife diet.
At St Pancras Coroner’s Court on Thursday, her mother described her as Lighterlife’s ‘star pupil’ because she never strayed from her regime of three sachets of powdered food a day.
Coroner Dr Andrew Reid returned a verdict of unascertained death, despite hearing evidence from a pathologist who suggested rapid weight loss could kill.
A post-mortem found Matilda died from heart arrhythmia – when a heartbeat is not allowed sufficient time to ‘recover’ and the next beat interrupts.
For six months Matilda, of West Heath Road, Child’s Hill, lived on only 500 calories a day – 1,500 less than the recommended daily amount, and was drinking between four and six litres of water daily. Her mother Patricia Callaghan told how Matilda was so desperate to slim she even shut herself away at Christmas last year to avoid temptation during a party.
During an intense exchange Mrs Callaghan grilled Lighterlife’s director Bar Hewlitt. She said: “It’s only with hindsight that I thought her weight loss was so erratic. She lost 10 pounds in her first week, four pounds in her second, and seven in the third – it was staring you in the face. Did the staff she was ‘so friendly’ with not feel concerned?
“She was their star pupil, she was rigid with the programme.”
Matilda, a member of the Christian organisation Youth 2000, died at the Royal Free hospital in Hampstead on January 26.
There was no suggestion in court that the Lighterlife diet was directly responsible for Ms Callaghan’s death. Matilda’s flatmate, Martin Plunkett, said: “Her head went down as if in pain. She put her hand to the bridge of her nose. Her body started to shake. It suddenly looked serious, we called the ambulance.”
Matilda had been in bed for three days with a severe headache, but according to Mr Plunkett she had “livened up a bit” on the evening of her death.
Mrs Hewlitt said: “I absolutely feel for Mrs Callaghan. I’m a mother too.”
But she rejected descriptions of Matilda’s weight loss as erratic. “Scales only give you a snapshot. The overall trend was a straight line,” she said.
Matilda, a youth worker, also wrote and directed a play, which was restaged as a tribute to her after her death, and wrote a light-hearted beauty blog online for Y2K. In one heartbreaking entry, she said: “Although you know that God loves you just the way you are, you know that others may not be so kind.”
Dr Andrew Reid said: “Being obese can cause death, but confoundingly losing weight can also cause cardiac arrythymia.
“I am not persuaded we have sufficient evidence as to what caused the fatal arrythmic heartbeat.“
He recommended Lighterlife carry out heart checks in the future.
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