A pregnant woman who died from a nine-storey fall had her baby safely delivered 30 minutes after her death, an inquest heard on Thursday. 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 that paramedics pronounced Atkinson dead at the scene. Her 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 a punctured lung and fractured tibia from the fall, requiring intensive care for several weeks, but has since recovered. The girl, 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. However, the coroner, Naomi McLoughlin, was unable to decide if Atkinson had done so with the intention of ending her own life. The court heard that Atkinson was suffering from poor mental health and was worried about a court date for a shoplifting offence at the time of her death.