A mother who was hit by a freight train was subject to ‘controlling and coercive behaviour’ when she took her own life, a coroner has said.
Jill Parton, 46, suffered fatal injuries when she was struck by a train near Stockport in the early hours of June 3 this year.
An inquest heard that the former pub landlady’s relationship had broken down and that she was ‘scared to leave the house’.
Ms Paton had been in several ‘difficult relationships over the course of her life, as her daughter told the inquest: ‘All she wanted was to be loved.’
Stockport Coroners Court ruled Ms Parton took her own life ‘in the context of coercive and controlling behaviour’.
Her daughter, Amber Parton, 25, told the court that her ‘beautiful’ mother ‘fell for the wrong people all the time’.
She added: ‘She was beautiful. All she wanted was to be loved. She would do anything for anyone. She was just a good person.’
Amber said in the weeks prior her death Ms Parton was having panic attacks due to threats being made against them both.
‘She was petrified someone would do something to me or her,’ Amber told the court.
The inquest heard that the former landlady told Amber she ‘didn’t want to live any more’.
However the daughter didn’t have concerns about Ms Paton harming herself, because her mother had said she ‘wouldn’t leave’ her.
The inquest heard Ms Parton had a history of anxiety and depression and in the months leading up to her death she had been prescribed anti-depressants.
She had also been referred to mental health services after telling her GP she was having ‘thoughts of self-harm’.
An ex-partner, Stuart Sumnall, told the court he and Ms Parton had ‘already decided to call it a day’ but had spent the afternoon together at Stockport Pride.
He told the court that later that day they rowed and she started crying before getting out of his car.
Mr Sumnall, who told the inquest he had ‘trust issues’, said he returned home and received a number of messages and phone calls from Ms Parton.
When the call ended Mr Sumnall said he immediately called police.
Det Insp Chris Aunins told the inquest that following Ms Parton’s death police received reports of a ‘domestic assault’.
The detective said a man, who was not named in court, was arrested and officers ‘thoroughly investigated’ the claims but no evidence was found and the suspect was released without charge.
The court also heard that Ms Parton, who was renowned for her time as a landlady of the Crown pub in Stockport, shared a final Facebook post
Posted at at 2.14am on the morning of her death, it read: ‘I just wanted to say thank you and much love to all my friends and family who have been there for me throughout the most difficult times of my life.’
A post-mortem toxicology showed indicated Ms Parton used cocaine some time before her death and also had alcohol in her system.
Assistant coroner Anna Morris described Ms Parton as a ‘complex and at times vulnerable’ woman who had experienced ‘periods of poor mental health’.
She said Ms Parton had been in a relationship in which she had been subject to ‘controlling and coercive behaviour’, which had broken down leaving her ‘scared to leave the house’.
The coroner recorded a conclusion of suicide ‘in the context coercive and controlling behaviour’.
Amber previously described her ‘bubbly’ mother as a ‘lovely woman who would do anything for anyone’ – recalling how she was a keen animal lover who also allowed more than 50 homeless people to stay at her home over the course of her life.
Amber added: ‘I’d rather go out with my mum than my friends. Anyone I’d speak to would say it wasn’t a normal mother-daughter relationship.
‘We used to tell each other everything. Everyone was jealous of our friendship. She never judged me.’
Maxine Campbell, Jill’s friend of more than 30 years, launched a petition to make small railway stations more secure in an attempt to prevent deaths.
She described the 46-year-old as being ‘like a sister’ to her and the ‘life of the party’.
Ms Campbell said: ‘When she first passed away, I was really upset, but then I would think of her laughing and just being silly. I would start laughing and get mad at myself, because I was trying to be sad.
‘She was kind and generous – everyone classed her as a best friend.’