IT IS not possible to say whether a woman suffering from severe anorexia took her own life, a coroner has ruled.
Powys coroner Peter Maddox recorded a narrative verdict in the death of 24-year old Alice Vulliamy, whose body was found in March on the banks of the River Usk.
Her father, Dr Christopher Vulliamy, addressed the inquest at Brecon Magistrates Court on July 15.
He said Alice had been suffering with severe anorexia for 10 years, and had been admitted to specialist units in both England and Wales, most recently the mental health unit at Bronllys.
“In the six months prior to her death she had been an in-patient there, with the purpose of rehabilitation at home and getting her back into a normal routine,” Dr Vulliamy explained.
“In the early years she was very reluctant to participate in therapy, but recently she had been better. She found it extremely difficult to comply with things there, especially eating.”
Alice had been studying childcare and got on very well with children, her father said.
Then, on February 5, Alice vanished from the family home in Llangynidr.
“We picked her up around lunchtime on the Saturday from the Bronllys unit,” Dr Vulliamy said.
“She appeared to be her usual self. There were no indications of what was to come. She seemed relatively happy, she had arranged to do some babysitting that evening and housework on Sunday.
“She walked to babysitting and I know she came back because she left some clothes on the banisters,” he said.
“On Sunday morning we had arranged to wake her around 9am but she wasn’t there. The car had gone, and she had left a note.”
In the note Alice said she couldn’t battle any more.
‘They have pushed me too far,’ she wrote.
Her parents notified police and the mental health unit where she had been an in-patient.
PC Andrew Pole, based in Crickhowell told the inquest that Alice’s body was discovered 45 days later on the banks of the River Usk near Pencelli, on the afternoon of Sunday, March 20.
A consultant pathologist at Neville Hall Hospital, Abergavenny said the medical cause of death was immersion in water.
Mr Maddox said he had to be certain about Alice’s intention to commit suicide but said it was difficult to do so because no one saw her enter the water.
“It seems a logical and easy step to make, but I don’t think I can deal with it in that way,” he said.
“It is impossible on the evidence - she could have changed her mind, slipped, or fell.”
In a statement, Dr Vulliamy described Alice’s condition as ‘deeply entrenched’ and ‘all-consuming’, and said the family hoped the publicity would help others to understand the serious and deeply pervasive nature of anorexia.