Questions remain over pregnant Leeds mum's intentions after tower-block plummet death
Coroner records narrative verdict
A heavily-pregnant woman who fell to her death from a tower block may not have intended to take her life, a coroner has said.
Emma Atkinson plummeted to her death in 2024, but her unborn baby miraculously survived.
The mother-of-five’s daughter was successfully delivered within half an hour of the fall by an emergency Caesarean section after she arrived at Leeds General Infirmary.
At the conclusion of the inquest into the 38-year-old’s death today at Wakefield Coroner’s Court, Assistant Coroner Naomi McLaughlin ruled a narrative verdict.
Ms Atkinson was heavily pregnant when she fell from the ninth-floor window of her father’s flat on Shakespeare Towers, Burmantofts, on the morning of October 22, 2024.
She had arrived shortly after 10am and sat by the open window having a cigarette. He father, David Atkinson said he heard her say “I’m off” before he looked and just saw her feet leaving the window.
She was rushed to hospital but could not be saved. Her unborn girl was delivered at Leeds General Infirmary within half an hour of her falling.
Ms McLaughlin said that she was satisfied that Ms Atkinson had deliberately “propelled herself out of the window”, but “could not ascertain if she intended to end her own life that day”.
The inquest heard this morning that Ms Atkinson had taken an overdose on two previous occasions in 2015 and 2017, had self harmed and was eventually diagnosed with emotional unstable personality disorder.
She was also known to be a heavy smoker and user of cocaine. She had been 33 weeks pregnant at the time of her death.
Ms Atkinson had been at her own gender-reveal party two days prior to her death.
Her family told the inquest that she was “excited” about having a girl and had been “doing well” and was “happy” at that time. They made it clear they did not think she intended to take her life.
However, Ms Atkinson’s father later told police that minutes before her death she had expressed that she was worried about missing a court hearing for shoplifting and feared going to prison.
The coroner said she balanced that with the fact that there were no concerns raised about her mental health in the weeks leading up to her death, and that she had been making plans to see family.
Ms McLoughlin said Ms Atkinson was “a much loved woman by all who knew her”.