Father’s agony as snow star takes own life
A SNOWBOARDER tipped to represent Britain at the next Winter Olympics killed herself in a wood on her 18th birthday, it was revealed yesterday.
Ellie Soutter’s father raised the alarm and a search party was sent out after she failed to return to the home they shared in Les Gets, a ski resort in the French Alps.
Police tracker dogs found the teenager’s body on Wednesday. there was no note.
Ellie, regarded as one of Britain’s best up-and-coming snowboarders, appeared to have a glittering future ahead of her. She won team GB’s only medal at the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival in turkey last year by taking bronze.
She had recently been selected for the British team in the Junior World Championships in New Zealand and was tipped to qualify for team GB in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Her devastated father, tony Soutter, 53, a sales and installations manager for a kitchen firm, told of his agony in a heartbreaking post on Facebook. He wrote: ‘this cruel world took my soulmate and “Bessie” from me on her 18th birthday. I was so proud of the beautiful young woman she had turned into.
‘Ellie, I will miss you more than you could have ever imagined. Rest in peace you little Champion!’
Ellie was born in Bromley, southeast London, and grew up in Surrey. She took up snowboarding at the age of ten after moving to France.
Her mother, Lorraine Denman, 50, a veterinary nurse, bodybuilder and former Miss UK, who is divorced from Mr Soutter, declined to comment at her home in Hove, East Sussex, yesterday. Relatives say Ellie remained close to her mother.
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