Advertisement

Caroline Flack inquest confirms TV presenter died by suicide

 British TV Presenter Caroline Flack aged 40 was found dead today at her home. She had appeared as a host of several popular Television shows the most recent being Love Island for which she received a BAFTA TV Award at the Winter Wonderland 2019 VIP Launch. (Photo by Keith Mayhew / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)
Caroline Flack was found dead on Saturday aged 40. (Keith Mayhew/SOPA Images/Sipa USA)

An inquest has been opened into the death of TV presenter Caroline Flack.

The former Love Island presenter was found dead at her home in east London on Saturday.

The inquest, held at Poplar Coroner’s Court, was told that a provisional cause of death in a subsequent autopsy was suspension by ligature.

The hearing was told that police were flagged down in Stoke Newington, London, on Saturday and taken to a residential flat, where Flack was found hanged.

Her body was identified by her sister, Jody Flack.

Caroline Flack death: Floral tributes outside presenter's home
Floral tributes outside Caroline Flack's home in north London following her death. (PA)

Coroner’s officer Sandra Polson said Caroline Flack was “found lying on her back, she had apparently been found hanging”.

Police attempted resuscitation, which was then continued by paramedics, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The inquest was opened as an unpublished social media post written by Flack before she died was released by her family.

In the post, Flack said a domestic incident involving her boyfriend Lewis Burton that led to a charge of assault was an accident.

Caroline Flack's family released a social media post in the Eastern Daily Press which the presenter had never published. (PA)
Caroline Flack's family has released a social media post to the Eastern Daily Press that the presenter had never published. (PA)

The note – which Flack was advised not to post – has been shared by her family and published in the Eastern Daily Press.

It said: “Within 24 hours my whole world and future was swept from under my feet and all the walls that I had taken so long to build around me, collapsed. I am suddenly on a different kind of stage and everyone is watching it happen.

“I have always taken responsibility for what happened that night. Even on the night. But the truth is …. It was an accident.”

Flack said she had been having “some sort of emotional breakdown for a very long time”.

TV presenter Caroline Flack arrives at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court charged with assault.
Caroline Flack arriving at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court charged with assault in December. (PA)

She added: “But I am NOT a domestic abuser.

“We had an argument and an accident happened. An accident.”

Flack’s death triggered anger at parts of the media that ran stories on the 40-year-old, with celebrities, commentators and social media users blaming some newspapers for the scrutiny applied to her.

A petition calling for legislation criminalising media harassment to the point where someone takes their own life had received more than 700,000 signatures by Tuesday.

Outside the inquest, a woman stopped to remonstrate with waiting journalists and photographers.

She said: “You lot, you want to be ashamed. I’d rather be on the dole than be any one of you.

“Don’t look, don’t smirk, don’t be blinking - you want to be ashamed of yourselves.

“I don’t know how you sleep at night. Scum. Scum of the earth.”

Poplar Coroner's Court, where the inquest into Caroline Flack's death has been held. (Google Maps)
Poplar Coroner's Court, where the inquest into Caroline Flack's death has been held. (Google Maps)

Questions were also asked of the decision to prosecute Flack over the alleged assault on Burton at a north London flat, despite Burton not wanting the case to go ahead. She pleaded not guilty in December.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it decides to prosecute based on the evidence available and whether it would be in the public interest.

After the allegations emerged, Flack, 40, stepped down from presenting the current series of Love Island, which did not air at the weekend out of respect.

The ITV2 dating show’s narrator Iain Stirling praised his friend’s “passion, warmth and infectious enthusiasm” on Monday’s broadcast.

Lewis Burton said his “heart is broken” after Flack’s death, and friend and fellow presenter Laura Whitmore said she was “vivacious, loving and had a passion for life, which is why none of this makes sense”.

Whitmore said that every mistake Flack made had happened under media scrutiny.

“I’ve seen journalists and Twitter warriors talk about this tragedy and they themselves have twisted what the truth is,” she said.

“You don’t have to tear someone down to feel good about yourself.”

For confidential emotional support at times of distress, contact The Samaritans at any time by calling 116 123 or emailing jo@samaritans.org.