A University of Exeter lecturer reached out to mental health services hours before she died by suicide, an inquest heard.
Dr Claire Dinan suffered with anxiety and depression in the weeks and months before she died in April 2023.
Claire also believed that her two adored children would be “better off without her” and unfortunately believed that her death would allow her friends and family to “get on with their lives”.
Area Coroner, Nicholas Lane, said that Dr Dinan struggled with her mental health in the following months before passing away, partly due to the break down of her 28 year marriage.
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In her journal, Dinan wrote that she was “sad and broken” about the turmoil she was going through.
According to the inquest, Dinan had made plans to kill herself by jumping off cliffs or using plastic bags.
In April 2023, Dinan was not eating properly causing her to lose weight and was suffering from a lack of sleep before her passing.
The coroner said Dr Dinan also believed she was burdening her sister and mother, who found her body hanging at her home in Teignmouth, Devon.
Dr Dinan completed her PhD at the University of Exeter in Geography in the marketing of sustainable tourism in the Business School.
The University of Exeter claimed that Dr Dinan was a “highly skilled researcher and educator whose work on sustainable tourism influenced national policy”.
Dr Dinan had self-referred to Talk Works, a Devon NHS Talking Therapy Service, according to the inquest. However, the service concluded that she was too high risk to take on.
The Exeter lecturer reached out to mental health team hours before her suicide, an inquest heared. Unfortunately, she was told she wouldn’t be taken on to the caseload as her risk was low.
As such, a coroner claimed there was a “potential gap in the service” which can have extreme consequences. He claimed there had been improvements since, yet funding was still an issue.
Dr Dinan’s husband, Frank O’Friel, claimed that his wife’s journal “made it clear” about the “turmoil she was going through and had made plans to end her own life”.
Following her death, Frank O’Friel found notes addressed to the family members in her bedroom along with a noose.
After a marital affair between Frank O’Friel and a co-worker, Dinan’s mother said that the marital breakdown left her daughter incoherent with grief, lost confidence and had greatly impacted her mental health.
The night before Dr Dinan passed, Frank drove to her mother’s house where she was staying and called the first response team the next morning to help her. However, Dr Dinan was left “bemused” as “no one believed her”.
As her mother went out for the morning, she returned for find her daughter hanged. She had left an apology note for her parents reading: “I don’t have a role any longer, I cannot go on. All my love, Claire”.
Claire’s sister said that she was “an intelligent and articulate individual with a very responsible job” but was also in a “sea of chaos” where she was taking “one step forward and two step backwards”.
Mr. Lane, the coroner, said that “there were many significant issues in recent days, weeks and months prior to her very sad death”.
Mr Lane said that Claire suffered an acute stress reaction to the marital breakdown.
Following this, Mr. Lane said that Claire’s family were unaware of her extensive process about suicide, which came to light later in notes and the diary.
Mr Lane said that the phone call Dr Dinan had that morning with the mental health team may have contributed to her final decision but was not the direct cause as there were “ongoing personal problems”.
Featured image via Instagram @uofebusiness
If you are experiencing any mental health issues or high levels of stress, help is readily available for those that need it.
Samaritans can be contacted at any time on 116 123. You can also contact Anxiety UK on 03444 775 774, Mind on 0300 123 3393, and Calm (Campaign against living miserably) on 0800 58 58 58.
