A former British Library manager who plunged 80ft to her death from the exclusive Coq D'Argent restaurant in London left behind a string of suicide notes, an inquest heard today.
Rema Begum, 29, had been plagued by someone who trawled through details of her Facebook profile to expose her westernised lifestyle to her strict Muslim parents.
Miss Begum, who had been suffering from depression after losing her job as a manager at the British Library after a row with bosses at Christmas 2011, believed she was living an impure life and as punishment would not be allowed entry to paradise.
Her health deteriorated and the once 'bubbly life and soul of the party' was unable to leave the house after she also fell victim to someone who launched a hate campaign exposing her liberal lifestyle after looking at her Facebook profile.
At 6.30pm on September 4 she had a glass of wine on the terrace of Sir Terence Conran's restaurant before putting down her handbag and drink and jumped eight stories from the terrace.
She landed in front of hundreds of horrified commuters outside Bank station in London and died instantly from multiple injuries, and there was no evidence that she was drunk.
After her
death police found anti-depressants, a small bottle of rose and vodka, and a
note containing contact details for her next of kin and her address in her
handbag which she had left on the ledge.
The day before Ms Begum had tried to hang herself, but had been discovered by her parents and taken to hospital.
But she insisted it was a cry for attention and promised she would not do it again.
Miss Begum refused to stay in hospital overnight and as there was community intervention available she was not sectioned, the court heard.
A community mental health worker went to see her the next day because she had refused to come into hospital, but she had already left her parents home in Manor Park, east London.
She texted her father Muhammed Hakim to say she was out with friends and would be OK.
But she died later that day.
After her death a note labelled 'Note once found' was recovered from under her glass, several were in her handbag, and one directed police to more notes under her bed at home, some dating back to June.
University friend Avril Atkins told the inquest: 'She was very happy, very bubbly, she was like the life and soul of the party, I never saw her down or depressed.'
Although she came from a 'traditional Muslim family' and followed some practices, including fasting, she lived a 'western life' independently in a flat in Islington and had non-Muslim partners which her family had found out about, Mrs Atkins said.
She was doing well in her career but 'towards the end she was having issues one of her managers and it was causing her a lot of stress', her friend of ten years said.
Her contract was terminated early and Miss Begum, who had been planning to buy her own flat, moved back home and began spiralling into depression.
Mrs Atkins said Miss Begum was 'struggling with going out' but they spoke for long periods in the phone.
She said: 'I had never seen her like that, never spoken to her like that, she was always so cheerful.
'One thing that did really worry me was she did say to me she hadn't been living a good Muslim life and that she wouldn't go to paradise.
'I was saying to her that she had done nothing wrong with the way she lived her life her family should be proud of her.
'She said she wanted to live a more Muslim-based life.'
Mrs Atkins also revealed that Miss Begum had had to shut down her Facebook page as someone had been sending her hate mail and information to her family about her life and she opened up another account under a private name and told the police.
She said: 'She had some problems with Facebook, somebody had been sending letters to her parents about her lifestyle and her relationships and she believed they gained access to that information from Facebook.'
Coroner Paul Matthews said: 'It appears that at a variety of times in her life she was writing notes that had the appearance of being suicide notes.'
Because of all the mental health background, the notes, and the deliberateness of her actions at the restaurant Mr Matthews said he could be satisfied she intended to take her own life.
dailymail.co.uk
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