21-Year-Old Student Found Dead After Going Through Depression

Lauren McQuaid, from Cardiff, was found dead at the age of 21 at home by her boyfriend Michael Wanklin.
Assistant coroner Thomas Atherton told Cardiff Coroner’s court Ms McQuaid died on April 28 after an overdose .
In a statement read out by the coroner, Mr Wanklin said third-year Cardiff University biochemistry student Ms McQuaid had told him she needed space to work on her coursework but they had arranged to meet at Costa in Albany Road on April 27.
She didn’t show up to the cafe and so Mr Wanklin went to check on her and presumed she was too busy to meet due to her coursework.
The statement read: “I gave her a kiss on her forehead and she felt warm. She had been working hard so I didn’t worry as I assumed she was just sleeping.”
Through statements from Ms McQuaid’s housemates, which were also read out in court, it was revealed her housemates also heard her “coughing and gargling” during the night but they thought nothing of it.
The next day, having not heard from Ms McQuaid, Mr Wanklin visited the house again the next afternoon. But when he found her he realised she had died. He said he also found an A4 paper pad which turned out to be a suicide note written to her mother, which he had seen the day before, but thought nothing of it.
Her medical history was read out and the coroner said she had frequented the doctor at the end of 2014 after being diagnosed with depression.
But her condition began to deteriorate in December, and she asked for a “not fit to work” note to be written for university.
The coroner returned a conclusion of suicide, caused by toxicity, and added: “It’s clear what her intentions were at around that time, particularly with her history of depression and of cuts to herself.
"In an extremely upsetting and tragic case that someone with so much to live for could be overcome by her depression at such a critical time of her life, it may have been the stress put on her by her studies that led to this."