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Leeds Live
National
Ashley Pemberton, SWNS & Jasmine Norden

Leeds dad took his own life after daughter, 29, died from botched Brazilian butt lift

A Leeds dad tragically took his own life after 'spiralling downwards' following the death of his daughter from a botched Brazilian butt lift operation.

Leah Cambridge, 29, died in 2018 after her operation went wrong in Turkey. Last year, Craig Cambridge, 51, was found dead at his home in Leeds.

Senior coroner Kevin McLoughlin said he will be writing to the surgeon who botched the operation as Wakefield Coroners Court heard today how Craig was never able to get over Leah's death.

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The inquest into Craig's death heard he struggled with alcohol dependency and depression after his daughter's death, and continued to 'spiral downwards.'

On April 5, 2021, Craig's daughter Chelsea's partner found Craig dead in his loft.

Three years before in August 2018, Leah died in Izmir, Turkey from a pulmonary embolism after Dr Ali Uckan at Can Hastanesi Hospital accidentally injected fat into her veins. Leah had three heart attacks on the operating table.

Mr McLoughlin conducted the inquests for both Leah and Craig's deaths, and said he would be writing to both Doctor Ali Uckan and Turkish medical authorities to make them aware of the grief the surgery caused.

He said to Craig's daughters Hayley and Chelsea and ex-partner Theresa Hall: “Normally I am quite detached and hard-hearted about inquests, but when I saw another tragedy had befallen your family, I felt quite grievous.

“Having conducted the inquest into Leah all those years ago, I was incensed that the surgeon in Turkey stood well clear.

“I am proposing to send the report to the surgeon to make him aware of the tentacles of this.

“I am intending to send it to the medical authorities in Turkey to make them aware of how a tragedy manifests itself years later.

“I feel dreadfully sorry for you as a family.”

Craig was a former personal trainer. Chelsea and her partner had gone to see him on April 5 2021 - and Chelsea's partner ended up climbing through a window when they found the door locked.

When he discovered the body, they called paramedics - but Craig was sadly pronounced dead at 7.50pm. He had left notes for both of his daughters.

Craig had had a history of depression and anxiety that became much worse after Leah died and turned into an alcohol dependence. He was on anti-depressants and was under the care of a community mental health team.

Police also found he had tried to call the doctors three times the morning he took his own life - but they were not open due to it being a bank holiday.

The clinic Leah went to claims to have worked with celebrities like Chloe Ferry, Lauren Goodger and Amber Dowding. The operation consists of taking fat from areas of the body and injecting it into the buttocks.

Dr Uckan did speak at Leah's inquest, where he called the operation 'a guessing game', speaking to Leah's widower Scott. Mr McLoughlin called the surgeon a 'coward' back in 2019 for not answering her family's questions.

The coroner said that he had written to the doctor eight times since to ask him to give evidence at Craig's inquest - but got no response.

As he returned a verdict of suicide today, Mr McLoughlin said: “I am reliant upon on the pathologist for the cause of death, which in this case is hanging.

“This was a suicide attributed in part to the death of his daughter who died in surgery in Turkey.”

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