Tragic daughter Annie-rose ‘was my best friend’ says grieving mum
19-YEAR-OLD HAD BATTLED WITH DEPRESSION
A MUM has paid tribute to her daughter and “best friend” who took her own life.
Annie-rose Houghton, of Chilwell, died last year after suffering from depression.
Claire Iliffe, the 19-year-old’s mum, said that Annie-rose was “vibrant, chatty, and very, very caring.”
Annie grew up with animals, and had adored a horse named Foley, which belonged to a family friend.
But a series of events led to her taking her own life in September last year.
Nottingham assistant coroner Gordon Clow told the city’s coroner’s court how “a range of stresses” and an alleged incident with her stepfather – which he has denied – gave Annie “the idea to end her own life”.
Annie worked at the Tappers Harker pub in Long Eaton. On September 4 last year she was working a shift when harassing phone calls targeting her and her boyfriend, Michael Atkin, were made to the pub by former friends Ella Stacey and Alex Cummings.
The inquest heard that Annie had previously blocked Ella, but unblocked her to tell her to stop calling the pub.
Detective Sergeant Charlotte Henson, who gave evidence at the inquest, explained that after doing this, Annie was met with “nasty messages calling her names, calling her fat, telling her that the world would be a better place without her”.
Mr Clow said: “They were prodding at things that were hurtful to her.”
After the calls, Michael reported Stacey and Cummings to Derbyshire police.
The pair subsequently appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court, where Stacey, of Rockford Road, Sherwood, was sentenced to five weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, with an additional order to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work. Cummings, of Mill Acre Close, Ilkeston, was sentenced to a 12-month community order, a 10-day rehabilitation activity requirement and 80 hours of unpaid work.
An incident with Annie’s stepdad, Peter Iliffe, was also raised during the inquest as contributing to her state of mind the evening that she took her own life.
At her home after work, Annie was said to have had an altercation with
Mr Iliffe, but when asked about that by Mr Clow, he strenuously denied it had happened.
DS Henson explained that Annie had alluded to an issue with her stepfather in messages to her partner.
The inquest heard that it was after this incident that Annie was found dead.
The hearing was told she went to bed at around 2am, while Mr Iliffe stayed downstairs on the computer. He “heard bumping and banging upstairs” before an “almighty clomp” in the early hours of September 5. He decided not to intervene, but when he went to the bathroom shortly before 6am, the inquest was told he found Annie on the bathroom floor. At first he “just thought she was in a drunken slumber”.
An ambulance was called and Annie was taken to hospital, where it was found she had taken an overdose. She died on September 8 at the Queen’s Medical Centre.
Describing her daughter’s love for her horse, mum Claire said: “She didn’t ride him, she just loved to love him, groom him and look after him. She said to me a few weeks before she passed away that the horses were one of the happiest times in her life.”
She added: “She absolutely loved working at the pub – she just loved it.
“She said she wanted to have a year or so out from training and teaching because she had worked so hard at school. She did really well in her exams. She didn’t want to go to university because she didn’t want to leave me – she was my best friend as well.
“She said she would work at the pub and have a year or so out of education and then decide what she really wanted to do.”
Annie’s partner Michael Atkin said: “I loved her a lot, and the time we were together was too short. I made so many happy memories that I’m reminded of her every day still. I miss her a lot, and I still think about her every day.
“She was bubbly, fun and she was full of life and loved everything. She loved animals. You can’t really describe her – she was unique. She was just full of life.
“Where she worked, the pub, she said she wanted to do that forever and then eventually get her own pub. She loved it there so much.”
Mr Clow concluded that Annie’s death was suicide and added that she “suffered a cardiac arrest which caused a brain injury that she could not survive”.
The coroner acknowledged that “she had for some years struggled with depression, anxiety and intrusive thoughts” and had taken “steps towards suicide in the past”.
He added that Annie was going through “a range of stresses and the altercation shortly before [her death] leads me to conclude that during that time Miss Houghton got the idea to end her own life”.
■ Claire wants to increase awareness of the Nottingham-based Tomorrow Project charity, a confidential and community-based suicide prevention, intervention and postvention service which helps those in crisis and those bereaved by suicide.
■ Depression Alliance is a charity for people with depression. It doesn’t have a helpline, but offers a wide range of useful resources and links to other relevant information: depressionalliance.org
■ The Sanctuary (0300 003 7029) helps people who are struggling to cope – experiencing depression, anxiety, panic attacks or in crisis. You can call them between 8pm and 6am every night. There are other depression charities.
■ Samaritans (116 123) samaritans.org operates a 24-hour service every day of the year.
She was bubbly, fun and she was full of life and loved everything.
Partner Michael Atkin