Missing woman took her own life, coroner rules

A woman who was found dead in a river in North Yorkshire had taken her own life, a coroner has ruled.

Sophie Lambert, 22, from Starbeck, Harrogate, was found in the River Nidd, near Knaresborough, by a dog walker on 21 June 2023 following a major search after she went missing five days earlier.

North Yorkshire Coroner Catherine Cundy gave a verdict of suicide at the conclusion of an inquest, adding she died by drowning and cocaine ingestion.

Ms Lambert had mental health problems that were "devastating for her to manage" due to the "significant trauma" she went through as a teenager, Ms Cundy concluded.

She said: "She was a young woman who had a normal and happy childhood until she was 14 and went through two significant traumatic events that lead to mental health problems."

Ms Cundy said Ms Lambert had been detained in hospital for "being a risk to herself" on about 30 occasions and would repeatedly go missing.

The coroner said Ms Lambert would later be found self-harming to relieve the pain of her trauma.

"She had post-traumatic stress disorder and emotionally unstable personality disorder due to the trauma and that was not easy to treat.

"Her mental health problems were devastating for her to manage and were also devastating for her mother and the mental health services that struggled to treat her."

Ms Cundy added Ms Lambert did not engage with the mental health support she was offered as "sadly she struggled to communicate" and felt like they were not helpful for her.

She went on to say that CCTV footage showed her leaving home just before 19:00 BST the evening before her body was found and posting her keys through her front door.

Her family attended the inquest and her mother Michelle told the inquest her daughter's "end goal was always to end her life as she said the world was too cruel - she made that clear".

She added her daughter loved animals and had been planning a holiday to a caravan park with her nieces and nephews shortly before she died.

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