A woman with a history of mental health issues cut her wrists before she died in a house fire, an inquest has heard. Jeanette Conlon, 49, died on February 18 last year after emergency services were called to reports of a house fire at her home near Caerphilly.
An inquest at Gwent Coroners' Court on Wednesday, July 13, heard Ms Conlon, of Clos Trefin, Pontllanfraith, suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and had recently been admitted to hospital after overdosing on her medication. She had undergone a physical assessment and was later discharged from hospital and was referred to her GP in the days before her death.
The inquest heard police and paramedics were called to Ms Conlon's home at around 10.41am on February 18after neighbours heard an alarm going off but were unable to contact her. A statement from PC Gareth Morgan said Gwent Police officers arrived at 10.52am and forced entry to Ms Conlon's home after finding the front door locked. After finding nothing downstairs they climbed the stairs where they found Ms Conlon unresponsive in the bathroom with lacerations to her wrists and neck. Officers said no blood was present at the house but a knife was found in the bathroom sink.
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Emergency services went to Ms Conlon's bedroom where her mattress looked as if it had been on fire along with some water on the bed which officers suspected may have been used in an attempt to put out the fire. Ms Conlon was unrevivable and was pronounced dead at around 11.25am. A post-mortem examination carried out by Dr Majid Rashid said Ms Conlon had cuts to her wrists and one which was "deep and exposed" which Dr Rashid said indicated there had at some point been blood. Soot marks were also found on Ms Conlon's body and the post-mortem examination found heightened haemoglobin levels which indicated possible carbon monoxide poisoning.
A statement read on behalf of GP Dr Farooq said Ms Conlon suffered from schizophrenia and had been in contact with her GP on February 15, 2021, when she said she had been taken to the Grange University Hospital the previous week after taking an overdose of medication. It was said Ms Conlon had suffered from mental health issues dating back to the 1990s. A hospital report said Ms Conlon had reported telling staff she had been "seeing things that weren't there" and "things moving around the house".
The inquest heard a physical assessment was undertaken the following day where Ms Conlon denied her overdose had been an attempt to take her own life. It noted that she "did not appear acutely unwell" and that "there did not appear to be an identifiable need to contact her next of kin" given how she was presenting. Ms Conlon was later discharged and told to contact her GP, which she did. Dr Farooq's statement said she was re-prescribed her usual medication but only on a weekly basis.
A statement from Glen Lewis from South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said fire officers who attended Ms Conlon's home on the day she died found the main damage had been caused in the bedroom, where a mattress looked to have been partially burnt. It said there had been no indication of third-party arson and that investigations discovered an ashtray with cigarettes near the bed. It said soot marks on the banister indicated someone had moved between floors while the fire was happening and that "smoke and associated materials[were] considered to be the probable cause of the fire".
Senior coroner Caroline Saunders said her view was that "we cannot distinguish" between the cuts to Ms Conlon's wrists and smoke inhalation, saying: "In relation to an intention to take her life I do not have sufficient evidence to conclude this as a suicide." While she said the lacerations could have contributed to Ms Conlon's death she said: "It may have been a reaction to the situation that she found herself in." She added that the post-mortem examination had shown the fire was "likely from a smouldering cigarette" and had not been started intentionally.
She said Ms Conlon may have been trying to put the fire out and had become "overwhelmed" by the situation, causing her to cut her own wrists, and recorded a medical cause of death of lacerations to the wrists and smoke inhalation. Delivering a narrative conclusion she said: "Jeanette Conlon suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. On February 18, 2021, Jeanette intentionally cut her wrists after a fire had accidentally started in her house." She said Ms Conlon had died "from the combined effects of the lacerations to her wrists and smoke inhalation".
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