Caroline Flack killed herself fearing 'certain' prosecution and media scrutiny of public trial, coroner rules
Caroline Flack killed herself after learning that she would be prosecuted in court for assaulting and injuring her boyfriend Lewis Burton because she believed he was cheating on her, a coroner has ruled. Flack, an English television and radio presenter, had hit national headlines in the UK after police responded to her home in December 2019 after Burton phoned emergency services and claimed she was trying to kill him. Officers had found Burton, a model and former tennis player, bleeding profusely from a cut to his head after Flack allegedly struck him with a phone after accusing him of cheating on her with another woman. On February 15, 2020, one day after hearing that the Crown Prosecution Service would go ahead with a trial to prosecute her for the assault, Flack was found dead at her home in North East London.
Following a two-day inquest into the 40-year-old's death, which included the presenter's mom confronting the police officer who had pushed for her to be charged, coroner Mary Hassell ruled that Flack had died by suicide.
"In Caroline's case I am entirely satisfied she intended to cause her own death," Hassell said, according to the Guardian. "There’s no doubt in my mind whatsoever about that, and therefore the conclusion for me to return is one of suicide. All the evidence points in the same direction, which is that Caroline had fluctuating mental health, she had had troubles in the past, she had had difficulties. In spite of the fact she may have led to somewhat seemed like a charmed life, but actually the more famous she got the more some of these difficulties increased because she had to cope with the media in the way some of us don’t."
Flack's sister, Jody, had previously revealed that she had tried to take her life before her first court appearance in December, where she pleaded not guilty to assault by beating, and then a further two times before she hanged herself at her London apartment. Hassell noted that while her deteriorating mental health played a role in her suicide, she was ultimately driven to take such an extreme step by the fear of bad publicity that a public trial would bring along with it.
"And although her general fluctuating state was in the background and was obviously very important in her death, what I find in the reason for her taking her life in the way she did was she knew she would be prosecuted for certain and she knew she would face the media, the press, the publicity, and to me, that’s it in essence," Hassell said.
The ruling came after Flack's mother, Christine, had singled out Detective Inspector Lauren Bateman, the senior Met officer in charge of the assault investigation, and accused her of treating her daughter differently because she was a celebrity, according to the Daily Mail. "If it had been... an ordinary person, you wouldn't have prosecuted," she said. "I see domestic abuse and I just think you should be disgusted with yourself so there is nothing we can do to bring Caroline back. I hope in hindsight you do regret this. This girl killed herself because you put an appeal through."
CPS prosecutor Alison Wright had initially decided that Flack should only be given a caution but changed his stance to pursuing an assault charge after Bateman intervened and appealed. In a written statement read out to the inquest, Wright said police challenged her decision to not charge the presenter because they believed she was influenced by her celebrity status. Bateman, however, denied the accusation and said she treated Flack just like she would any other suspect. She said she pursued an assault charge because Flack had not provided a clear admission to assault in her police interview. She also doubled down on the move and said that, if presented if the case again, she would not do anything differently