Young Huddersfield woman died jumping from van after she was told there was 'nothing wrong' with her mental health

A man desperately tried to save his girlfriend as she jumped from his moving van on a busy road.

Leah Senior, 27, told her partner of her intentions to take her own life before opening the passenger door to his van as he drove on Denby Dale road on January 17 this year. An inquest into her death at Wakefield Coroner's Court on Tuesday heard Leah, from Huddersfield, died at the scene, despite resuscitation attempts by passers-by and emergency services.

Her devastated mum Hayley told how her and her husband Neil had tried to help Leah with her mental health and alcohol issues over the years, but they had repeatedly been told there was "nothing wrong" with her.

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Hayley described Leah as a "loving child" who was "always laughing and smiling" and said as she grew older she was "sassy" and "jolly." However, when Leah was 13, she lost her beloved grandmother to Leukaemia, something area coroner Oliver Longstaff said was a contributing factor to her mental health issues.

The court heard Leah went on to become an accountant, and started to have trouble with alcohol while working in Leeds. Her mum said in a statement: "They were big drinkers, always going to the pubs and that's when it spiralled and she began drinking and it never stopped. We felt she had gone downhill massively. She was drinking at work and the company found out. They didn't want to sack her so she resigned and they gave her a good reference. She worked for ASDA doing the books but working from home and that's when her drinking got worse."

Hayley said Leah would start going to hotels to drink and would hide bottles of wine in pillowcases, but the family worked hard to get her help.

She said: "In 2020, we became very concerned for her mental health. We went to the doctors in 2020 and they gave her medication for depression. She said they didn't work so she was given Prozac and mirtazapine."

The court heard Leah was referred to a mental health group and a worker said she was not an alcoholic, but a "dependant drinker." Her mum said: "They said there was nothing wrong with Leah. In 2021 to 2022, Leah had a mental breakdown. I was constantly asking for help for her. She also saw a psychiatrist who said there was nothing wrong with her. We were doing the absolute best to get the help she needed. She was given a drug to help with her cravings with alcohol and would go for months without drinking then would go on a binge and go to hotels."

The court heard Leah met her boyfriend online and the couple had been together for one or two years at the time of her death. It was said that there were a number of incidents where Leah had tried to exit a moving vehicle, and on one occasion grabbed the wheel of his car, which then went off the road.

Leah's mum said in her statement Leah went to the doctors in November 2023 and was given a different medication, and she was weaned off the mirtazapine before she could take that. Her mum had made her an appointment with the community psychiatrist nurse for the day Leah died.

She said: "Neil took her to this appointment earlier in December 2023. She came back looking broken. She said no one was going to help her."

Hayley said the day of Leah's death she had seen her in the morning, and her daughter had asked her to rearrange the appointment for later that day as she had clients to see. She went to work in Garforth, and later asked for her boyfriend to pick her up.

She said: "He had offered to collect her from work as he usually would and she said no as she had clients and he came back and was playing on his Xbox and smoking cannabis. Later she said she wanted picking up and he asked her to get a taxi and she said no so he picked her up."

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The court heard Leah had told her partner of her intentions to take her own life. She had been captured after work on CCTV at a Holiday Inn Hotel bar ordering drinks. Her mum said: "Our family liaison officer told us she took her own life. She never expressed to us she wanted to do that...As her parents we are so shocked at what happened. We never saw this coming and are devastated."

It was said Leah's phone showed evidence of her researching ways of how to take her own life prior to her death. The court heard her partner had picked her up and while they were on their way home to Almondbury on Denby Dale Road in Wakefield when she opened the passenger door of his van and got out.

A paramedic told the court he attended to scene at 8.50pm and was joined by other emergency services personnel. He said in a statement members of the public were giving Leah CPR when he arrived, and he was told she had fallen from a vehicle, but no one had seen it. Leah tragically died at the scene.

DS Andrew Queen, the senior investigating officer in the case said that due to it being an unusual case, the HMET (Homicide and Major Enquiry Team) looked into any potential suspicious circumstances, but found there were none.

Detective Sergeant Queen said Leah's boyfriend "explained they were in a relationship together for a year or two and explained they lived together." He said: "The background that we have heard her mum has provided is that she was struggling with mental health issues and alcohol use or misuse and on this particular day he had been working and had started very early and finished at around 3.30pm to 4pm.

"He was in text contact with her at work. She finished work and as we know from CCTV went to the hotel. They had text contact during this period about how she was going to get home. The plan was for her to get an Uber and she was effectively attempting to end the relationship in some ways but was trying to take her own life. He then decided to go and pick her up. He drove there, picked her up and then - there was no argument, he just wanted to help her - and she opened the door and under her own steam jumped from the van."

The coroner said: "The detail he says is that while driving along she opened the door and said, 'I'm going to kill myself' and stepped out of the vehicle and he tried to grab her coat unable to get to her. He stopped the van and ran to where she was and picked her up and pulled her to the side of the road and put her in the recovery position."

DS Queen confirmed this from his report.

A cause of death given by Home Office pathologist Dr Kirstin Hope was that Leah had died from chest injuries.

The coroner said: "Leah tried to cope with demons in her life, alcohol and an early family bereavement. The evidence is clear that she had undertaken some research of how to end one's life. She had, prior to the index event, tried to do something similar to what she did do, of trying to exit a moving vehicle. On another occasion, she seized the wheel of a vehicle being driven...

"On the evening in question, she had communicated to him [her boyfriend] she was going to do something of this nature. He had gone to pick her up, despite his better judgement, he wasn't intending to go out. There is no suggestion his manner of driving had anything to do with what happened to Leah.

"As they were making their way towards Huddersfield, she announced she was going to kill herself and opened the door and jumped from the van. She sustained unsurviveable injuries.

"Leah Senior died on the 17th January 2024 from injuries sustained when she deliberately jumped from the van being driven by her partner with the intention of ending her life. There were no suspicious circumstances."

The coroner recorded a conclusion of suicide.