Teenage violin prodigy who died at family's Kensington home had been self harming but did not mean to kill herself, inquest rules

A teenage violin prodigy who died at family's Kensington home had been self harming but did not mean to kill herself, and inquest has ruled.

Ekaterina Tsukanova, the daughter of Russian banker Igor Tsukanov, was found dead at the £9.5 million property in June, just eight days after she performed at the Royal Opera House.

She returned home at 3:30am after a night out with friends and was let in by her father.

But hours later paramedics rushed to the mansion in Kensington, west London after her body was discovered in the bathroom.

Police discovered compression marks around her neck and a post mortem examination found they matched a ligature found by her body - concluding she had died from "fatal compression to the neck."

Officers also found a knife in the room and cuts to her forearms.

Westminster Coroner Dr Shirley Radcliff ruled that she had died by "misadventure" - and that she had not intended to kill herself.

Earlier this year, her father reported that she had died of a drugs overdose from a cocktail of cocaine and ketamine known as a 'Calvin Klein,' but a toxicology report showed that there were no drugs present in her system.

The inquest was told that on June 5, 2018, just over a year before her death, she met with a psychologist and confessed she had been self harming and drinking to cope with GCSE exam stress.

Her therapist, Tanya Lecchi, told the inquest that Ekaterina, a student at £12,600 per team Wycombe Abbey independent girls' boarding school in Buckinghamshire, went through "dark periods."

Concluding thehearing, Dr Radcliff said: "There was no suicide note, there had been no previous attempt, there was no significant history of psychological significance.

"At the time she was intoxicated and, in a young girl, that has led me to consider if she had a clear thought to harm herself or if this was an impulsive act.

"I conclude that this was a case of misadventure - she deliberately undertook an act that had unexpected consequences."