EXETER WOMAN ACCUSED OF MURDERING HER SON FOUND DEAD IN PSYCHIATRIC UNIT
A woman accused of murdering her four-year-old son was found dead in a mental health unit days after describing her grief in a letter.Emma Manser, 24, from Exeter, was found hanged at The Dene, in Hassocks, West Sussex, on 17 July 2008.
She had been charged with murdering her son Ryan and attempting to kill her mother at her home in April 2007.
An inquest at Haywards Heath Magistrates' Court heard she was undergoing psychiatric assessment.
Two days before her death, her father's partner received a card from Ms Manser which expressed her profound sense of loss and grief.
Ms Manser had written: 'I'm missing Ryan more and more all the time.
Every morning is a constant reminder of what I've done and why I'm here.
I just can't let it sink in what I've done.' She added: 'I hate what I've done to Ryan, to myself and everyone who loved him, but I can't turn back the clock.' She was accused of smothering Ryan and stabbing her mother Wendy Richards in her home in Stoke Hill.
Her father, Robert Manser from Taunton, described her as an intelligent, 'happy-go-lucky' girl, but with signs of psychiatric issues from age 14 when she overdosed on tablets.
A psychiatrist at The Dene stated she had episodes of believing she was the messiah and was 'very psychotic' at times, though her condition was reportedly steady the day she died.
The inquest was adjourned until Tuesday.
