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Islington Tribune - by CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS
Published: 14 December 2007

Widow dived under train

Depressed teacher left suicide note

A SUICIDAL teacher knelt down in front of an oncoming Tube train moments before her death, an inquest has heard.
St Pancras Coroner’s Court was told Pauline Rooker, who died at Angel Tube station in April, had suffered psychological problems.
Mrs Rooker, 51, had travelled to Australia at the start of the year but returned home early after an attempted suicide. The reason she wished to take her life remains a mystery, although witnesses suggested there had been a purpose to her trip and she had been disappointed at how the holiday had turned out.
At her inquest last week her brother, David Shovlin, said: “When she came back she phoned me. She wasn’t specific about it but I knew something was wrong. The next I knew was [the police] knocking on my door.”
Mrs Rooker, a widow, bought a one-way ticket to London from her home town in Cheshire and left a suicide note for her neighbour, Susan Enrith. Ms Enrith described how she would invite Ms Rooker over for meals in an attempt to help her.
She told the inquest: “I was quite distressed about her state. She kept saying she was a failure and that she hadn’t succeeded in her trip. Her whole demeanour was downbeat and depressed.”
Coroner Andrew Reid recorded that Mrs Rooker took her own life. He said: “She deliberately and voluntarily climbed down onto the tracks at the tunnel entrance. She knelt down and lay on the tracks and then dived into the oncoming train.”

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