Baby safely delivered after mother died in nine-storey fall

Emma Atkinson, 38, was seven months pregnant when she fell from window of flat in Leeds tower block, inquest told

A pregnant woman who died from a nine-storey fall had her baby safely delivered 30 minutes after her death, an inquest has heard.

Emma Atkinson, 38, was seven months pregnant when she fell from the window of her father’s flat in Shakespeare Towers in the Burmantofts area of Leeds, on 22 October 2024.

Wakefield coroner’s court heard on Thursday that Atkinson was pronounced dead by paramedics who arrived at the scene shortly after she fell at 10.20am. Atkinson’s body was taken to Leeds general infirmary, where an emergency caesarean section was performed.

The baby girl was born soon after arriving at the hospital. She sustained some injuries from the fall, including a punctured lung and fractured tibia, requiring her to remain in intensive care for the first weeks of her life, but has since recovered. The girl, who is now 21 months old, is reportedly “being raised happily” by family members.

In a narrative verdict, the inquest ruled that Atkinson had “deliberately propelled herself” from the window of the tower block, but was unable to decide if she had done so with the intention of ending her own life.

The coroner Naomi McLoughlin said that while “the deliberate act of removing the safety catches from the window” and “the manner of her falling, captured by the CCTV” was significant, other evidence such as the lack of concerning signs in the weeks prior, and the fact she had made plans beyond that day with her family, meant she could not conclusively say Atkinson meant to die when she fell.

The court heard that at the time of her death, Atkinson was suffering from poor mental health and was worried about the possibility of being incarcerated after failing to attend a court date for a shoplifting offence.

Her father, David Atkinson, told the inquest via a summarised statement that his daughter had come to visit him at his flat that morning. While there, she began to smoke a cigarette in front of a window in his living room, which she then opened fully after removing the safety catches.

Atkinson said that he asked his daughter what she was doing, to which she told him “not to worry (as) she was just getting some fresh air”, before she said “I’m off” and fell through the window head first. He also said he believed his daughter had intended to end her own life that morning.

Other members of her family who attended the inquest said Atkinson would not have intentionally taken her own life, stating that she “would never have left her kids” and that her “life revolved around her children”.