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Natalie Watson |
Boyfriend of tragic death plunge teenager gives evidence to inquest
Coroner rules out foul play but admits circumstances of tragedy ‘cannot be determined’
THE boyfriend of a woman found dead outside her bedroom window gave evidence to a coroner’s inquest yesterday (Thursday) as her heartbroken family listened to how the tragedy unfolded.
Natalie Watson, 18, a trainee hairdresser and beauty therapist, plunged to her death from a second-floor bedroom window in Balls Pond Road in January after arguing with her boyfriend Dean Kelly.
He told St Pancras Coroner’s Court she was upset because she felt he wanted to leave her and that she “wasn‘t good enough” for him.
Although Natalie had self-harmed in the past, her family say she promised she would never take her own life.
Mr Kelly told the court that after arguing with her on and off for most of the evening – with shouts loud enough to wake her sleeping brother Christopher – he went to the toilet and when he returned he found the window open and Ms Watson missing.
“Because of the state of mind she was in I was worried. I looked out of the window and couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” he said.
“I panicked and got on the phone and called the ambulance. I went downstairs and told Chris to help me.”
Ms Watson’s mother, father and two of her three brothers sat in court to hear his evidence.
After St Pancras Coroner Dr Andrew Reid returned an open verdict into her death – he ruled out that she was attacked – her mother Ann Seeley said the family still had a lot of questions.
Ms Seeley, a prison officer, said: “I’m just thinking that I’m going to go to my grave never knowing but I know in my heart she didn’t jump.”
The family have planted a rose bush in their back garden in memory of Ms Watson because her favourite flowers were red roses.
Rick Watson, her father, said: “Over one hundred people came to her funeral. It was standing room at the back. It was a beautiful service but we’d rather not have been there.”
Mr Kelly, 19, dated former St Mary Magdalene pupil Ms Watson for more than a year after meeting her through a mutual friend, and lived with her and her family in their Canonbury home.
He said they sometimes left the window open when they smoked cannabis, but had not smoked that night and the window had been closed.
“The window had been open earlier, about an hour before it happened, but it was closed. We wasn’t smoking cannabis that night,” he said.
Mr Kelly, from Poplar in east London, was initially arrested on suspicion of murder but later released without charge. He was cautioned for cultivating cannabis.
Christopher Watson, 20, Natalie’s brother, told the court he was woken up twice by their arguing on the night she died and wanted to go and break it up, but knew his sister didn’t like him getting involved.
The first he knew of the evening’s tragic turn was when he heard a “bang” in his back garden and saw Mr Kelly running down the stairs.
Mr Watson said: “He was saying ‘Chris I need help’ and I said ‘Why’ and he said ‘Your sister’s gone out the window’. “He said ‘She’s threw herself out the window for no particular reason’.”
Yesterday both the detective leading the investigation, Detective Sergeant Joe Lock, and coroner Dr Reid said there were “no suspicious circumstances” surrounding her death and had found no evidence of assault.
The coroner said it was impossible to say what really happened without any witnesses.
He added: “The cause of death is clear but the circumstances and her mental state simply cannot be determined.
“There is the possibility Miss Watson did act voluntarily and it was her intention to end her life and that she chose to do so while Mr Kelly was out of the room.
“However, the incident hasn’t been witnessed by her boyfriend or any other witnesses. She may have had an accident.” |
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