Police officer’s death at Pinderfields Hospital could have been prevented - inquest told

A night shift nurse discovered Andrea Jayne Shelton, 45, hanging in a bathroom at 4am on January 19, 2011.

The inquest heard that Mrs Shelton was a police officer who had never suffered from depression.

But she endured sleepless nights worrying about a new computer system she had been asked to implement for South Yorkshire Police.

Two days before her death, Mrs Shelton woke up worrying about work before apparently slashing her wrists and groin at the home in Low Ackworth near Pontefract she shared with her husband Paul who is also a police officer.

She was taken to Pontefract Hospital and transferred to Pinderfields Hospital where she underwent surgery the following day.

Her husband, Paul Shelton, who is also a serving police officer, was told by medical staff in Pontefract that an appointment had been made for his wife’s mental health to be assessed by a crisis team at Pinderfields on January 18.

But she was not assessed.

Mr Shelton wanted to stay at his wife’s bedside that night but he was not allowed because it was a women only ward.

Reading from Mr Shelton’s statement, West Yorkshire coroner David Hinchliff, said: “You said her treatment was diabolical.

“You feel if someone had listened to you and let you stay with Jayne until she could have got some help from the crisis team, that Jayne’s death could have been avoided.”