Suicide woman ‘could not live without fiancé’

Gwenny Banting’s body was discovered in the kitchen of her flat just two days after her 27-year-old fiance Craig Sweaton had died after being admitted to hospital suffering from flu symptoms.

An inquest in Leeds was told yesterday how Ms Banting went to see her GP the day after Mr Sweaton died and deputy coroner Melanie Williamson said: “She was beside herself.”

The deputy coroner, who recorded a verdict that Ms Banting took her own life, added: “She was unable to stop crying.”

The GP thought her behaviour was in common with someone who was grieving and said it was not easy to tell if she was suicidal.

Her friends kept an eye on her and on New Year’s Eve they called to see her but found her lifeless with a cord around her neck in the kitchen of her flat in Bracken Green, East Ardsley, near Wakefield.

A post mortem examination concluded that the cause of her death was hanging.

A suicide note was found and the coroner told the hearing that Ms Banting took Mr Sweaton’s death: “very badly indeed”.

Speaking shortly after the couple’s deaths their families said Ms Banting had left a suicide note in which she told how she could not go on without Mr Sweaton.

Mr Sweaton, of Leeds, fell ill on December 24 last year with what appeared to be flu.

His condition failed to improve and after visiting his GP on December 29 he went to St James’s Hospital, in Leeds, that day. He died in intensive care eight hours later.

The university graduate’s death certificate says he died as a result of bronchopneumonia and multi-organ failure.

Pneumonia can be caused by swine flu and after his death Mr Sweaton’s mother, Carol Sweaton, 49, demanded answers after hospital chiefs confirmed he was not swabbed for it.

Mrs Sweaton, of Leeds, said: “I will fight until the day I die to find out if a swab could have saved Craig’s life. He was the happiest and jolliest person you could ever wish to meet.

“He was fit and healthy – he always ate the right food, he never smoked, he was at the gym every single day.”

In response Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said “He was diagnosed with a serious bacterial infection and immediate treatment was started.

“Sadly, the infection was overwhelming and he did not respond to treatment.

“He did not have a swine flu swab in that short time because the immediate priority was to treat his underlying condition, ” the spokeswoman added.