Young woman plunges to her death from high flats

Oct 31 2012 by Lynda Nicol, East Kilbride News

A tragic young woman plunged to her death from the 13th floor of a block of high flats just months after surviving an earlier suicide attempt.

Troubled Chantelle Park left a suicide note for her girlfriend, Bernie Lindsay, before taking her own life on Sunday.

The body of the 22-year-old former St Vincents and St Brides High School pupil was found lying at the foot of Drury Lane Court in Calderwood by Bernie shortly before 11am that day.

Twenty minutes earlier, Chantelle had told her girlfriend she was nipping out to the local garage for cigarettes. When Bernie looked out to see if her friend was returning, she found the note.

Bernie, from Motherwell, told the News Chantelle had been a kind-hearted person who would have done anything for anyone.

I still love her and I always will.

It is believed Chantelle jumped from the window on the landing of the 13th floor of Drury Lane Court.

In December another young woman, mother-of-two Tammy Bennett known to Chantelle plunged to her death from the 14th floor of Old Vic Court.

Earlier, Chantelle and her mum, Donna, had found Donnas partner Ian dead in the home they shared in Old Vic Court.

Chantelle, who has an elder sister, Ashleyann, 25, and two younger brothers, Christopher, 18, and Sean, 20, had suffered from mental health problems and had a history of self-harming.

Donna, who lives in Glasgow, said Chantelle had been a wonderful daughter, sister and friend, who loved her family deeply and who would have done anything for them.

But Chantelle, she said, had been plagued by mental health problems.

In January, she tried to commit suicide by swallowing razor blades and had spent weeks in intensive care at Hairmyres Hospital, where she was a regular in-patient.

Donna said Chantelle had wanted desperately to overcome her mental problems. She said she felt Chantelle had not been given adequate help from medical staff.

Donna said Chantelle who had kept telling medical staff she could hear voices and who had suffered from a series of seizures had finally been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

She had only been discharged from Hairmyres Hospital last Thursday. A post mortem examination is scheduled for Friday.

Chantelles funeral service will take place at South Lanarkshire Crematorium on Wednesday, November 7, at 12.30pm.

Friends have set up a collection for the family. Donations can be made day of the funeral or at Heritage Funeral Services Limited, in the village.