Graduate kills herself after bank bailiffs close in on debt

12:10am Friday 26th September 2008

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A graduate killed herself after bailiffs threatened to strike over £40,000 debts.

Science graduate Claire Ashing, 34, from Brighton, put a bag over her head and suffocated as banks closed in on loans.

A coroner yesterday hit out at the money lenders as Claire's mother Mary described them as "immoral".

Mrs Ashing told an inquest that threatening letters continued to arrive for her daughter after she had died.

"They were threatening to send in the bailiffs if she did not honour some of what she owed,"Mrs Ashing said.

"It had built up gradually over ten years and included £10,000 on a student loan.

ìI think it is immoral of the credit card companies to keep throwing money at young people in the way they do.

"She was making repayments until about two months before she died but then things seemed to get out of hand.

"I had helped her out financially but she was a very private person and did not tell me how much she owed.

"If she had I would have taken her to get advice on how to stop the cards."

Miss Ashing was found dead by her mother and her friend Sarah Churchill in her flat below her parents’ house in Surrenden Road ,Brighton, in June.

She suffocated after putting a plastic bag and a pillow over her head and sealing it with gaffer tape.

The inquest heard she had bravely battled back from three hip replacement operations as a result of a hip dislocation problem.

She had graduated in biomedical sciences and was studying for her masters degree.

Her hip operations had set her plans for a career as a science laboratory technician back and she had never had a full time job.

Miss Churchill was among 15 friends and family who attended the inquest at Brighton County Court yesterday. (thu) She paid tribute to Claire saying she was always laughing and joking and put her family, friends and pets before anything else.

Miss Churchill said: "She had a wonderful sense of humour and was a great tease and joker who made us laugh all the time.

"She never suggested to any of us that she had financial problems. If she had we would all have helped her out.

"I spoke to her on the phone the night before she died and there was nothing in her voice to ring alarm bells.

"Her friends all want to thank Maureen and Vernon for a wonderful daughter and friend.

"Our love for her and them will never die."

Dr Karen Henderson, deputy assistant coroner of Brighton and Hove recorded a verdict that Miss Ashing took her own life.

Dr Henderson added: "There will always be two sides to the argument about where the responsibility for credit cards lies.

"Is it the responsibility of the banks or the the credit card companies to check credit worthiness or is the responsibility with the individual?

"Even though the sums here were quite significant it happened over a long, insidious period of time.

"Banks and credit card companies giving money after money after money is a very difficult thing to justify.

"In this court there should be no civil or criminal liability but it is difficult to see how they can do that without having proper checks in place."

Frances Walker, from the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, said: "Unfortunately we do hear about these cases from time to time and they are particularly tragic because of course the debt problem, if people can seek help, can always be solved.

"There is a lot of shame attached to debt problems and it’s an emotional problem as well as a financial one.

"A lot of people feel they cannot talk to their families about it. We get a lot of people in who have not even told their partners.

"We always advise people to tell their families but we respect them their wishes if they do not want to. We as a charity are completely confidential.

"We are always distressed that people are driven to such and extreme. If people make that first phone call they often feel relieved and less pressurised straight away."

If you are worried about debt, call the CCCS on 0800 1381111. A counselling service is also available 24-hours a day at www.cccs.co.uk.