A pregnant mother died after falling 90 feet from a tower block window, but her unborn baby survived the incident, an inquest was told.
Emma Atkinson, 38, fell from the ninth floor of Shakespeare Towers in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Her daughter, Posie, was born five weeks premature at a hospital and survived. Atkinson, however, was pronounced dead at the scene.
During a visit to her father, David Atkinson, she asked him for a cigarette. He stated that she sat near the window and opened a pane until it was horizontal. When he asked her to close it due to the cold, he heard her say, "I'm off." He turned and saw her feet leaving the window, telling the court he thought he was "having a nightmare."
Her father rushed to the ground floor, where an off-duty doctor provided first aid to Atkinson and her unborn child. Despite being taken to Leeds General Infirmary, Atkinson had sustained "catastrophic and unsurvivable injuries."
Doctors were able to save her newborn daughter's life. The inquest also heard that Atkinson had a history of two previous suicide attempts and had been diagnosed with an emotionally unstable personality disorder.
Prior to her death on October 22, Atkinson shared a photo on Facebook showing her baby bump, with a child hugging her legs. She had commented that she was due to give birth in ten weeks and expressed her happiness about having a girl. Large floral tributes were left at the tower block following her death.