Putney suicide woman had warned police about stalker

A woman who gassed herself in a suspected chemical double suicide had repeatedly warned police and officials that she was being harassed by an ex-boyfriend for two years.

By By Andy Bloxham and Richard Edwards
Published: 8:00PM BST 01 Oct 2010

The Independent Police Complaints Commission yesterday launched an inquiry after it emerged police and other agencies had many calls and complaints from the young woman, who neighbours said appeared “frightened”, before she is thought to have taken her own life.

The investigation will determine whether she was given proper support by officers before she locked herself in her flat in Putney with a friend, and inhaled toxic gases she is thought to have sourced on the internet.

Meanwhile, Sky News reported that the two women were sex workers, citing unidentified sources.

It is understood the woman, who has not been identified and is described as a black Somali aged about 28, first contacted police up to two years ago to complain of harrasment. She moved to a flat run by a women's charity in Putney, south west London, but was believed to have been in "recent" contact with police again speaking of her fears.

Catherine McGrath, a retired typist whose flat overlooks the property, which is run by a charity for single women, said the victim had moved in within the last few months.

"She was a very quiet and private girl. She always seemed very scared and had her windows shut and curtains closed,” she said.

"I thought I should try and talk to her, but she was always very scared, almost frightened of something."

"She looked like she had something to be afraid of. She didn't look very well.”

Another neighbour said she had fixed fabric over the windows which would permanently shield the flat from passers-by on the first day she moved in.

The bodies of the two women were found at the Putney flat on Thursday.

The other woman who died in the suspected pact is said to be a white woman of a similar age.

Investigators believe they gassed themselves after sealing doors and windows with tape.

Noises described as "like somebody doing DIY, drilling and banging" were reported coming from the flat the night before the deaths were discovered.

The block where the women died is owned by Women's Pioneer Housing, a not-for-profit organisation that provides affordable one-bedroom and bedsit properties for single women..

One neighbour said the two women were regularly seen together.

Jordan McGrath, 17, who lives opposite the flat, said the visitor seemed to be the Somalian woman's only friend.

He said: "She was very quiet.

"The one friend she was always with, that's who she died with. They were always together, and I think they have known each other for a while.

"I did hear some banging on the night that they died but I didn't think much of it because the neighbour beneath me is always making noise.

"She was very timid and shy. She never came out.

"She wasn't working that I know of because I would have seen her coming and going."

Senior police officers are also concerned that chemical suicides could become a trend.

Suicides using gas are rare in the UK but have become much more common in Japan and the US.

Internet sites on which troubled individuals can discuss and even encourage suicide have become prominent in recent months and widely criticised.

It emerged yesterday that London Ambulance Service staff have been given leaflets informing them of chemical suicide cases.

The document says the method originated in Japan and victims "have often sought information on how to do this from the internet".

The note, dated in early September advises paramedics on the signs of such an incident and gives instructions on how to manage the situation.

The number of suicides by the chemical poisoning totalled more than 1,000 last year in Japan, which has one of the world’s worst suicide rates. There have also been a wave of around 500 suicides in America in recent years

Last week the bodies of Joanne Lee, 34, of Essex, and Stephen Lumb, 35, of West Yorkshire, were found in a car in Braintree, Essex.

Police feared the incident could be one of the first chemical suicides of its type after they released a deadly gas and left warning posters.

The pair met on a suicide chatroom, sparking condemnation of sites that often encourage vulnerable people to take their lives and advise on how to do so.

News of the Putney deaths was posted on one suicide site yesterday, provoking a user to comment: "Good for them."

The bodies were removed at around 4pm yesterday after specialist fire and police teams neutralised the chemicals and made the area safe.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8037643/Putney-suicide-woman-had-warned-police-about-stalker.html