Although it is clear from the reports that this lady had a history of mental problems and itwould be wrong to wholly blame her recreational drug use for what happened, it shows that getting out of your box is essentially no escape from mental health problems – they come back as the comedown kicks in…
Nursery nurse found hanged
| May 31 2005
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| South London Press
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A NURSERY nurse hanged herself in a children’s playground after taking the drug ecstasy.
Laura Perij, 22, used a metal dog lead as a noose and attached it to a climbing frame.
Her body was spotted hanging in Brunswick Park, off St Giles Road, Camberwell, by a passing motorist.
Salma Rahman told an inquest: “I noticed a female standing on the climbing frame.
“She was standing still – I thought it was strange.
“I asked my sister to drive around the park again: I thought she might be hanging. I could see that her feet were off the floor and I called 999.”
Ms Perij, of Houseman Way, Camberwell, was being treated for depression and had spoken frequently of suicide, Southwark Coroner’s Court heard.
She had once tried to burn down her dad’s home by dousing the door with lighter fuel.
PC Mark Nash told the inquest a series of suicide notes were found near the body when he went to the scene on December 27.
He said: “As we got to the children’s play area I could see a figure hanging from one of the climbing frames in the park. I could see a silver chain around her neck.
“We decided to lift her down to see if we could help her in any way.”
Post-mortem tests found high amounts of ecstasy in the nursery nurse’s bloodstream but that she had died from hanging.
PC Nash added: “In the notes there were apologies and there were notes about her childhood.”
Ms Perij’s brother, Shane Robinson, told the hearing he saw his sister three days before her death and she had not mentioned suicide.
But he said: “She was always telling the family that she would kill herself.”
A statement from Dr Steve Church, consultant psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital, Denmark Hill, confirmed Ms Perij had been self-harming with knives from the age of eight and was a drug user throughout her teens.
She had taken overdoses of pain killers twice before she died and had attempted to burn down her dad’s house in September 2003.
Recording a verdict of suicide, deputy coroner Dr Adela Williams said: “In this case I am satisfied that from the notes left at the scene as well as the methods she used, she intended to kill herself at that time.”
