heavily pregnant woman died when she jumped from the ninth floor of a tower block hibut did not intend to take her own life, an inquest has found.
Emma Atkinson, 38, exited the window of a flat in Shakespeare Towers, in the Burmantofts area of Leeds, on 22 October 2024.
Her baby daughter was delivered in hospital and has since made an “unexpected and much welcomed” recovery.
Recording a narrative verdict, assistant coroner Naomi McLoughlin said there was not enough evidence to suggest it was suicide, but the act of climbing out of the window was deliberate.
Emma, who had five children, climbed out of the window of her father’s flat at about 10:20 BST that morning.
David Atkinson, her father, said she had been sitting on a chair in his living room which was next to the window.
“Emma asked for cigarettes and sat on the back of the chair. She began to smoke and asked how to open the window,” he told Wakefield Coroner’s Court.
Emma told her father she was “just getting some air” and had removed the safety catches, before saying “I’m off” as she went out of the window, he said in a written statement to the court.
Paramedics were called and, although her injuries were severe, performed CPR on Emma in the hope of saving the baby, the court heard.
