Tory activist, 21, killed herself af ter warning about party’s ‘weird old men’
A YOUNG Tory activist killed herself after accusing other party members of bullying and inappropriate sexual behaviour, an inquest has ruled.
Jade Smith posted an online suicide note accusing ‘creepy, weird old men’ of sexual misconduct at Conservative Party conferences.
The 21-year-old pleaded for an end to bullying and personal abuse in the party and urged it to change ‘for young people’s sake’.
The extraordinary social media post, which was uploaded with a time delay, appeared on Twitter three days after she was found dead near cliffs in Saltburn, North Yorkshire, last September. Her body was discovered after police responded to a report expressing concern for her welfare.
Miss Smith briefly quit the Conservative
Party in 2016 after claiming she was ‘threatened, victimised and harassed’ by senior officials.
In a letter to the party’s disciplinary committee, she alleged she had been left stressed and unable to sleep due to intimidation and threats. She then gave an interview to a newspaper during which she said her allegations of bullying were not properly investigated, despite promises by officials.
‘I completely flunked my exams because of the state I was in,’ she said. ‘If the Conservatives wish to attract more young people they really have to start looking into allegations like mine seriously.’
Miss Smith, who had a Boris Johnson tattoo on her leg, appeared in BBC documentary series The Mighty Redcar about life in her socially deprived home town. In her last tweets, Miss Smith wrote of her concerns about the annual Conservative conference, which had just opened when she died.
She commented: ‘We shouldn’t have to be worried that our friends are going to be raped at conference or at the very least sexually assaulted.
‘We shouldn’t have to put up with creepy, weird old men... grabbing us to go and chat to their friends and try to take us home at the end of the night. There’s a reason we don’t feel safe.’ Miss Smith said it was the last time she would ‘ever have a platform to ask them to change’ and ‘to beg them for young people’s sake to change’.
She added: ‘I’ve always received abuse for being a Tory. But the abuse we receive from each other and the older people in our associations is what takes it too far.’
Miss Smith, who had a history of mental health problems, revealed she had attempted to kill herself several times and had battled drug addiction. At an inquest at Teesside Coroner’s Court, assistant coroner Jo Wharton said she was satisfied that Miss Smith intended to take her own life and recorded a verdict of suicide.
The court heard how she had spoken of taking her own life and told her boyfriend: ‘This time next year, I will be dead, or I won’t be alive in a few years anyway.’ A toxicology report showed that at the time of her death she had significant levels of alcohol in her system.
The inquest was held just days after it emerged that a Tory MP in his 50s had been arrested and bailed on suspicion of raping and sexually assaulting a woman in her 20s.
Those allegations came after former Tory MP Charlie Elphicke was found guilty last month of sexually assaulting two women.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: ‘Our thoughts and condolences are with the friends and family of Jade Smith at this time.’
For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123, go to a branch or visit Samaritans.org
‘This time next year, I will be dead’