Caroline Flack’s inquest heard how she and boyfriend Lewis Burton gave police conflicting accounts of her alleged assault on the night she was arrested.
Police attended Flack’s home in December after Mr Burton, said to be bleeding profusely from a cut to his head, phoned emergency services saying she was trying to kill him.
A section from the police incident report described how Flack made admissions to officers called to the scene.
It said: ‘He [Mr Burton] made an allegation he had been asleep in bed with Ms Flack, and he had been suddenly woken by her hitting him on the head with some force.
‘Flack made a number of admissions in the presence of police officers, statements such as: ‘I hit him, he was cheating on me’.’
Caroline Flack killed herself after hearing she would definitely be prosecuted for assaulting her boyfriend Lewis Burton, a coroner ruled today
Police attended Flack’s home in December after Mr Burton, said to be bleeding profusely from a cut to his head, phoned emergency services saying she was trying to kill him
‘At this time it is unclear what object was used to assault Mr Burton. He assumed it was a desk fan or a lamp.’
The log said Flack’s phone had been seized, it had a significant amount of blood on it, and a crack on one of the corners.
Flack gave an account to police at the scene, read to the inquest, in which she said: ‘I did, I whacked him round the head like that’, gesturing a swinging motion with her right hand to police.
She told police: ‘I admit I did it. I used the phone. I had his phone in one hand, and my phone in the other.
‘I whacked him round the head, there’s no excuse for it, I was upset.’
However, in police interview later, Flack said she flicked Mr Burton ‘to wake him up’, and that she did not believe she caused his injury.
A letter to Caroline Flack’s GP from the psychiatric department of the hospital where she was treated after the alleged assault was also read to court.
It described how the television personality was ‘tearful and anxious’ and that she ‘said she had too much to drink’.
It adds: ‘The reason for the argument was she saw messages on his phone, texting another girl. She said it was an impulsive reaction (to hit him).’
It added: ‘She is worried about how her job is affected because of the incident. She is looking forward to going to work on Monday and has a new job starting in January.’
Flack killed herself after hearing she would definitely be prosecuted for assaulting her boyfriend, a coroner ruled today after her mother confronted the police officer who pushed for her to be charged at her inquest and said, ‘you should be disgusted with yourself’.
The 40-year-old was found dead on February 15, the day after hearing the Crown Prosecution Service would go ahead with a trial for allegedly attacking her model and former tennis player boyfriend Lewis Burton, 27, in December.
Today Coroner Mary Hassell gave a verdict of suicide, saying: ‘I am entirely satisfied she intended to cause her own death. She hanged herself.
‘I find the reason for her taking her life was she now knew she was being prosecuted for certainty, and she knew she would face the media, press, publicity – it would all come down upon her. To me, that’s it in essence.’
It came after her mother, Christine, blasted a senior Met Police officer for appealing against the CPS’s decision to give her daughter a caution after her arrest despite officers finding her at the crime scene with an injury caused by self-harm.
Accusing Detective Inspector Lauren Bateman of treating her more harshly due to her celebrity status, Mrs Flack told the inquest: ‘She (Caroline) cut her arm (to cause serious injury to herself)… and you were putting an appeal in to get her prosecuted, you never bothered to see her.
‘If it had been… an ordinary person, you wouldn’t have prosecuted. I see domestic abuse and I just think you should be disgusted with yourself so there is nothing we can do to bring Caroline back. I hope in hindsight you do regret this. This girl killed herself because you put an appeal through.’
Today, Poplar Coroner’s Court heard new details of a note that was found near Flack’s body at her London flat (pictured on February 16, a day after her death). It read: ‘Please let this court case be dropped and myself and Lewis find harmony’
Flack’s death prompted an outpouring of sorrow from celebrity friends, colleagues and fans, who referenced one of the former Strictly winner’s social media posts from December in which she urged people to ‘be kind’.
Her death was the latest connected to Love Island, following the deaths of contestants Mike Thalassitis, 26, in March 2019 and Sophie Gradon, 32, in June 2018.
Ms Gradon’s boyfriend Aaron Armstrong, 25, died three weeks after he found his girlfriend had died.
To contact the Samaritans, call 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit https://www.samaritans.org/