A troubled mother-of-four sent a heartbreaking final text to a close friend before taking a fatal overdose on Mother’s Day after struggling to come to terms with a failed marriage.
Casey-Jo Lee, 31, from Crewe, Cheshire, took an overdose of pills and drank half a bottle of alcohol after texting friend Anna Jones late at night saying: ‘Sorry hun but I’m just a waste of space’ and ‘Feel a bit depressed, I’m going to kill myself tonight.’
Tragically Miss Jones, who lived nearby, failed to spot the text as she was asleep when the time the message arrived earlier this year. The alarm was raised the following morning when she answered a knock at her front door to find Casey-Jo’s children stood on her doorstep.
A troubled mother-of-four sent a heartbreaking final text to a close friend before taking a fatal overdose on Mother’s Day after struggling to come to terms with a failed marriage
It emerged Ms Lee also sent her boyfriend an early hours text saying: ‘you never believe how much I love you. When I see your grandad I’ll tell your grandad – and you will believe me’.
An inquest heard she had been hiding mental anguish stemming back to a failed marriage. She had been on antidepressants but was not sleeping well and was advised to undergo counselling.
Miss Jones, who had known Ms Lee for two years, said: ‘I would see her every day we would go to school together and help each other out. She wouldn’t really tell me if she was having a hard time.
‘On Friday night we had a drink together, she wouldn’t drink that much, she was not a regular drinker. We had a nice evening together – she went home around midnight. She was ok. I saw her again on Saturday and there was no problems.’
Casey-Jo Lee (pictured), 31, from Crewe, Cheshire, took an overdose of pills and drank half a bottle of alcohol after texting friend Anna Jones late at night saying: ‘Sorry hun but I’m just a waste of space’ and ‘Feel a bit depressed, I’m going to kill myself tonight’
Miss Jones added: ‘I received a text around midnight but I was asleep it was saying she was depressed and telling me she was going to take some tablets and was going to go.
‘She had never said anything like that before. It was a terrible shock, she always put a strong face on. We had a knock on the door the next morning and her son came and her daughter and the baby at about 9:30, they were by themselves and I went back with them to the house.
‘I went around and found her on the kitchen floor.’
Ms Lee’s boyfriend Shaine Tench said he was going to meet her on the Saturday but she asked him not go as she was unwell.
He added: ‘She was a very good mum, she would be one of the last people on the earth I thought would have don’t this.
‘She first started with messages and they were upsetting. They were never directed at me, they were just that she was not happy with life, she was feeling down.’
Miss Jones (left) said: ‘She wouldn’t really tell me if she was having a hard time.’ Throughout the night, Mr Tench (right) continued to receive messages from his partner
Throughout the night, Mr Tench continued to receive messages from his partner.
He said: ‘I continued to reply and then got no answer. It was going back and forward, one minute she was absolutely fine and the next she wasn’t. I believed she had had some alcohol.
‘She was saying she was going to take an overdose. I started walking to her house and got a message saying “don’t come, my mum and dad are here”. At this point the messages started getting jumbled up one message said “It’s Lena” and I thought someone was there then looking after her.
‘She sent me a photo half way through the evening of tablets in her mouth – and straight away I called her. She was quite religious and believed in God and she took an oath that she didn’t take the tablets.
‘One of the last messages I got from Casey read something like “you never believe how much I love you when I see your grandad I’ll tell your grandad and you will believe me”.’
He received a phone call at 10am the next day from a friend informing him that Ms Lee had passed away.
Ms Lee’s mother Lena Finney, said: ‘There had been a lot of upset in her life and she had a bad marriage.
An inquest heard she had been hiding mental anguish stemming back to a failed marriage
‘But this came completely out of the blue, she had never done anything worrying before. Her sister said she had done a few stupid things but nothing like this.’
Recording a drug related death, Coroner Janet Napier said in the absence of a written letter, she could not be certain Casey-Jo intended to take her own life.
Miss Napier added: ‘Casey-Jo had children and they loved and cared for her. It was her own actions that caused the [pills] and alcohol levels to be high but I cannot find any evidence of her being deeply depressed and seriously thinking in a non-intoxicated state that she intended to end her life.
‘We really don’t know what was going on in her head but she was deeply upset. I don’t think she was in a fit state to make a fit decision. She was a very good mum and cared deeply for her children and had a very good support system. She was very happy to be near her family and had a good neighbour as well.’
For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details.