Lancashire: Inquest opened into death of Lucy Meadows
An inquest has been opened and adjourned into the death of school teacher and trans woman Lucy Meadows.
The 32-year-old was found dead in a house in Lancashire on Tuesday 19 March.
An inquest at Blackburn Register Office heard Meadows’ body was found by her estranged wife Ruth Smith.
Coroner Michael Singleton told the short hearing: “I understand there have been previous attempts to commit suicide. I don’t know if they are relevant or not.”
Thisislancashire.co.uk reports Mr Singleton asked for various reports to be completed to establish a cause of death, before the inquest is resumed on 28 May.
Before her death, Meadows had contacted the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) in January to complain about the way she had been treated in the press after her gender transition was made public by a local paper and then the wider national media in December of last year.
Last December, Daily Mail columnist Richard Littlejohn wrote disparagingly about Meadows in a column, and has since been the subject of renewed criticism, following her death.
Earlier this week, the PCC said it had received a number of complaints about the article – but none directly from the family of Lucy Meadows.
Meadows’ January complaint to the PCC was not specifically against Littlejohn, but of general press behaviour.
