SHOCKED shoppers made a human screen round a woman seen falling from the top floor of a car park to a precinct below, an inquest heard today.
A taxi driver tried to revive 48-year-old Rebecca Sykes until paramedics arrived outside the Kirkgate Centre in Darley Street, but she later died in hospital.
Trauma surgeons at Leeds General Infirmary tried to save her but her injuries were catastrophic, the Bradford inquest was told.
The mother-of-three from Festival Avenue, Shipley, had been under the care of community mental health services for a major mood disorder which involved episodes of elation then depression with periods of normality in between.
Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Miss Sykes had shown “admirable courage” as she fought a long battle with the condition, seeking help from mental health professionals, family and friends.
Miss Sykes' worried partner Wayne Kilcoyne had gone to Shipley police station on October 20 last year to report her missing from home, but was given the news she had died earlier that day.
He told officers she had been getting upset recently and had spoken about jumping off a building.
Summing up, Mr Longstaff said: “It would be unjust to declare I’m certain she intended to take her own life when I’m anything but that. Rebecca Sykes died from multiple injuries from a fall. At the time, her mental state could not be determined.”
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