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Source: Reuters
A mother living in New Zealand who took her disabled daughter back to Britain apparently drowned the girl in a bath and then carried the body into a nearby lake, where she also drowned.
The bodies of Jude Richmond and her nine-year-old daughter Millie Whitehead-Richmond, who suffered from cerebral palsy, were found in the water next to their home in March, an inquest heard on Tuesday.
Richmond, a florist whose former customers included the Queen Mother, had suffered a mental breakdown and become obsessed with Scientology, the Daily Mail newspaper reported.
She also developed a theory that her daughter's illness was caused by an allergy to metallic objects, and began administering experimental treatments.
At the inquest into their deaths on Tuesday a coroner ruled that it was impossible to tell whether Richmond, 41, had intended for either herself or her daughter to die. The inquest heard that Richmond had recently returned from New Zealand with Millie after moving there with her stockbroker husband, who was Millie's stepfather.
Gloucestershire Coroner Alan Crickmore said he was satisfied that the cause of death for both was drowning but could not be sure where they died.
Recording a verdict of accidental death for Millie and an open verdict for Richmond, he said: "It is probably that in trying to assist Millie with one of her experimental treatments by massaging oil into Millie's skin in the bath she somehow drowned her and carried her into the lake.
"She may have then realised the enormity of her actions before taking her own life".
The inquest heard that she experienced a "psychotic episode" in the week leading up to her death.
In a statement, psychiatrist Laurence Myers-Wallace told the inquest the evidence was enough to convince him she was suffering from bipolar disorder, adding that episodes could be sparked by crossing time zones.
Richmond returned on March 12, and the pair went missing about a week later.
Millie's stepfather Nick Richmond, 45, was on a plane back from New Zealand when the bodies were found. He was told about the deaths by police at Heathrow airport.
