Tragic fashion student took her own life just hours after scattering ashes of ex-boyfriend who killed himself

Hannah Greensides, 21, found dead six weeks after death of Julian Barthel

Inquest told that Miss Greensides and Mr Barthel, 32, made a suicide pact

But her father refuted these claims at the hearing in Crewe

However, he said Mr Barthel’s death in May this year had ‘torn her apart’

A fashion student killed herself just hours after she helped to scatter the ashes of her ex-boyfriend who had also taken his own life, an inquest was told.

Hannah Greensides, 21, was found dead by her father in a field near the family’s home in Alderley Edge, Cheshire on June 14, six weeks after the death of her former boyfriend Julian Barthel, 32.

An inquest into Miss Greensides’s death heard how a friend of Mr Barthel had claimed the pair made a ‘suicide pact’ a fortnight before he died on May 2.

He was found hanged by a dog walker in Alderley Edge, and his inquest in September was told that he had left a note urging Miss Greensides to watch a film with a suicide plotline.

But Miss Greensides’s father Nigel Greensides refuted claims the couple, who had met while working at nearby pub The Merlin, had pledged to kill themselves together, and called the suggestion ‘rubbish’. 

‘There was no evidence there was a suicide pact, my daughter took her own life but there’s nothing to suggest that,’ he said. ‘I think it’s wrong to suggest that.

Instead he told the inquest that Miss Greensides, who had experienced mental health difficulties including depression, had been ‘abused’ during her relationship with Mr Barthel, and that he had even been reported to the police after one assault.

He added that Miss Greensides, who had been working as a waitress during a break from her studies, had told her younger sister that she had to leave Mr Barthel because he ‘was bad for me’ before their deaths.

The inquest heard Miss Greensides had started to develop mental health difficulties upon leaving home for university, and that Mr Barthel’s suicide had ‘torn her apart’.

Her father told the inquest at Crewe’s Municipal Building: ‘She was very down. She found it very very hard.

‘We decided to go away after the funeral to give us something else to do. We went to Istanbul for four days and it was one of the best family holidays we have ever had.

‘But when we got back it was back to reality, Hannah was quite down.’

Miss Greensides’s GP told the inquest that she had a history of self-harm and depression. 

Senior Cheshire coroner Nicholas Rheinberg also heard that Miss Greensides had been prescribed anti-psychotic medication and anti-depressants to combat her conditions.

But a number of her friends and family members told the inquest that before her death she had been ‘getting better’, and making plans for the future.

Recording a verdict of suicide, Mr Rheinberg said: ‘Hannah was a very intelligent young lady who was also dogged by depression but led a normal life apart from problems that surfaced from time to time.

‘She entered into a relationship with a young man that at times was fulfilling but at times had negative effects, a volatile relationship in one moment there was some physical violence and at another they were enjoying each other’s company as if nothing had happened.

‘Hannah resolved to end the relationship and if it had ended there I think this tragedy would not have unravelled. Sadly the person in question took his own life and that clearly had a depressing effect on Hannah.’

Tragic fashion student took her own life just hours after scattering ashes of ex-boyfriend who killed himself