‘Blossoming’ teenager found dead in woods
DAD TELLS INQUEST HE WALKED DOG PAST POLICE CORDON UNAWARE DAUGHTER HAD KILLED HERSELF
A DAD told an inquest about the moment he came across a police cordon while out walking his dog, unaware it was there because his daughter had taken her life in nearby woods.
Nicole Guest was just 17 years old when she was found dead in woodland on Ashton Heath in Wigan in July.
An inquest into the teenager’s death heard that Nicole left her Ashton-in-Makerfield home in the early hours of July 19 after her family had gone to bed.
Police later discovered she had sent messages to friends, saying she was going out for a walk because she was upset and wanted to clear her head.
Concerned about her being out so late, they urged her to go home.
She replied claiming she’d gone home, but she had stayed in the woods and later took her own life.
Nicole was discovered by a dog walker, who raised the alarm shortly before 6am.
Police and medics gave her first aid, but Nicole had already died.
A short time later, Nicole’s father Mark Guest took his dog out for a walk, and discovered he couldn’t go on the heath because it was cordoned off by police. Believing Nicole was at home in bed, he was unaware that she was involved until the family were informed by police later that morning.
The Bolton Coroner’s Court hearing was told that Nicole had a long history of challenging behaviour, issues with her confidence and school absences, but had been turning things around and was starting to ‘blossom’ in the months before her tragic death.
Nicole started talking to her support worker from Start Well, and went on to be able to sit some of her exams at home and at school.
With encouragement from employment and skills service Aspiring Futures, Nicole then secured a place at college. Her mum told the hearing: “She was blossoming, it’s the only way I can describe it.”
The night before she died, Nicole asked her dad to text her support worker from Start Well, so she could arrange to speak to her, which he did.
He asked Nicole if there was anything she wanted to talk about, but she replied that she wanted to speak to the support worker. Mr Guest added: “She was her normal self. She was fine, there was no indication of a low mood.”
When police examined Nicole’s laptop, iPad and phone following her death, they found no evidence to suggest that she was planning to harm herself. Police coroner’s officer Marcheta Hogan said: “She was looking a lot brighter, she was making plans for the future.”
But Nicole had written a note in her phone in which she stated that she was going to tell her mum and her GP about ‘the depression stuff’ and that she wanted to get better.
Tests found there were no drugs or alcohol in Nicole’s system and police ruled out any suspicious circumstances. Her cause of death was listed as hanging. Recording a conclusion of suicide, coroner Catherine Cundy said she was satisfied that Nicole had intended to take her own life.