Hannah Young, 40, (pictured) killed herself after taking an overdose
An artist who thought she was ugly killed herself after her husband refused to let her have Botox treatment, an inquest heard.
Hannah Young, 40, told family and friends that she did not want to get old after she was diagnosed with facial dysmorphia.
She suffered from low self-esteem and stomped upstairs to cool down after her husband took away her credit card to prevent her from getting cosmetic surgery.
A coroner heard that husband her husband Adam had walked into the room less than an hour later to find his wife covered in blood and screamed for his friend to call 999.
It was later revealed that Mrs Young, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, had suffered an overdose after taking tablets, an anti-depressant prescribed to her by her doctors.
Despite desperate efforts by medics to save Mrs Young’s life, she later died as a result of the incident, which took place at the couple’s home on July 12 last year.
In a statement read at the inquest, Mark Andrew-Symonds, who was a friend of the pair, said he had been sat in the living room with Mr Young when his wife had called him from upstairs.
Moments later he had heard Mr Young shout: ‘Mark, call the ambulance! There is blood everywhere!’
He said: ‘I found Adam holding Hannah up on the bed. Her head was rocking from side to side and her muscles were stiff. She looked like she was trying to stand up.
‘Eventually two paramedics arrived and they managed to carry her downstairs and into the ambulance. Adam followed her in and they drove off.
‘Later I got a text from Adam that said: ‘She’s dead mate.’ I was in absolute shock, because I thought that she would be able to have her stomach pumped and that she would be okay.
Her inquest heard she suffered from low self-esteem and had a history of mental health disorders, including recent suicidal thoughts
‘Adam told me she had tried to take her own life on a number of occasions but that he had managed to stop her.
‘She often used to say she didn’t want to be here and she seemed serious about it at the time.’
Giving evidence at the inquest in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, Mrs Young’s sister, Louise Nelstrop, said she had received a text message from her that day, saying she had taken tablets and was going to die.
She said: ‘On the day of her death, Hannah sent me a text message saying she was going to kill herself.
‘She said: ‘I am really getting out of here this time.’ She told me she loved me. Finally she sent me a message saying she had taken an overdose.
‘She told me that her husband had taken away her credit card to prevent her getting Botox injections to her face.
‘When Hannah contacted me it was too late for me to save her. She had never called me before to tell me she loved me and to say goodbye.’
Mrs Young (pictured) died as a result of the incident, which took place at the couple’s home on July 12 last year
Miss Nelstrop said that while the messages had been sent shortly before her sister died, she had a new phone and had not read them until the next day.
She added: ‘Hannah started to get drunk in the month leading up to her death. She had, to my knowledge, never been drunk before then.
‘She threw away many of her dresses because she believed they didn’t fit her anymore. She told me she was going to get fat and that she didn’t care.’
Medical staff at the Whiteleaf Centre in Aylesbury, where she had been sectioned for three months in the beginning of 2016, said Mrs Young had attempted to jump off a bridge shortly after her 40th birthday, but was narrowly saved from plunging to her death by her husband.
The inquest heard that after her release from hospital Mrs Young went home and started self-medicating with alcohol and drugs she had bought via the internet and struggled to leave her house because she did not want people to see her face.
One week before Mrs Young died, she had had visited Reverend Charlotte Collins of the Oxford Trust spiritual team ‘seeking reassurance that God would not condemn her if she chose to end her life.’
Dr Barid Bhattacharya was involved in assessing Mrs Young in the months leading up to her death.
Dr Bhattacharya said the patient been suffering from face dysmorphia, which meant she believed she was ugly no matter what her family and friends would tell her.
He said: ‘Many have problems like ‘my face is not perfect’, ‘my hand is big’ or ‘I have big ears’. In Mrs Young’s case, this severely affected her mood.
Mrs Young, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, had suffered an overdose after taking tablets
‘Her symptoms became considered as psychotic when she became unable to leave her house in June and July 2016 because she thought she was ugly.
‘On one hand the family was trying to help her, but on the other hand she was declining their help.
‘Still, the overall picture was that she was making so many future plans and she was seeking our help during that time.’
Buckinghamshire senior coroner Crispin Butler said: ‘I am certain from what I have heard in terms of background and the more recent deterioration in mental health and the evidence of suicidal thoughts combined with the evidence from Hannah’s sister about communications shortly before her death, that Hannah did intend to take an overdose and by doing so end her life.
‘I will record that Hannah consumed a fatal dose at her home address on July 12 2016, and died later that afternoon at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury as a result of the overdose.
‘Mrs Young had a history of mental health disorders, including recent suicidal thoughts.
‘I will record as a result of that information a conclusion of suicide.’
Speaking after the inquest, Mrs Young’s mother Ann Nelstrop said: ‘The Whiteleaf Centre got away with it. She was my daughter and they let her down.’
Mrs Young’s sister added that she was ‘very unhappy with the care Hannah received at the Whiteleaf Centre’, and that the family was likely to be seeking out an Ombudsman to hold its staff members to account.
For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details.