Last updated 15:54, Wednesday, 27 February 2008

A FRIZINGTON woman hanged herself after suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome.

Former Sellafield secretary Silvana Columbi, was found hanged from a tree by a member of the public in Broadmoor plantation, Ennerdale on November 24, last year.

Her sister Francesca Hogan told an inquest: “She was exceptionally warm hearted and always meant well. I think she resigned herself that she was going to live life alone. She had to deal with her problems alone. She didn’t like to trouble people with her problems. She coped admirably with being a single mother.

“I was aware she was depressed recently. She was worried about losing her job and her mortgage.”

She added that after a bout of flu virus she often complained of aching limbs and lethargy. She was diagnosed with post-viral and chronic fatigue syndrome but rejected taking any anti-depressants to treat it.

Miss Columbi, 49, of St Paul’s Avenue, was one of 10 brothers and sisters and a daughter to Italian parents. She attended St Joseph’s Primary School and St Cuthbert’s School in Cleator before joining the Navy as a cook for nine years. In 1984, she became pregnant with her son David.

Police said they believed the incident was pre planned. Miss Columbi was found with a pair of step ladders close by and the seats in her Volkswagen Polo parked near to the trees she was found at had been folded down to accommodate the steps.

West and north Cumbria coroner John Taylor said: “I have heard she had a normal happy childhood. She was from a large loving family.

“It is clear that she had some sort of post viral problems that made her have no energy. She was tired and didn’t have the energy to get on with life in a normal way. She was concerned that it would affect her job.

“She made that decision because of her ill health. She went to Ennerdale with a step ladder and rope and took her life on the branch. Her body was found by a member of the public.”

He said her death was due to hanging. He recorded a verdict that she killed herself.