Parents watched anorexic medical student daughter, 20, drop card addressed to them before plunging to death from John Lewis balcony
The horrified parents of a ‘perfectionist’ medical student gripped by anorexia watch her plunge to her death from the balcony of a John Lewis store.
Hannah Bharaj had developed an eating disorder while studying for her end-of-year exams at Birmingham University in the weeks before her death in July last year.
The 20-year-old was shopping with her mum and dad at John Lewis in Handforth, Greater Manchester, when she suddenly walked to a first-floor internal balcony and plunged over the edge.
Hannah, from Bolton, died in hospital the next day.
An inquest into her death at Stockport Coroners Court was told at the time of her death, Hannah was a residential patient at the Priory psychiatric hospital seeking treatment for her eating disorder and mental health problems.
Her parents had picked her up from the clinic and taken her to shops and for a cup of coffee in the hours before her death.
Speaking of the moment she fell, mum Sarah Bharaj said: “Hannah had a book with her, I had a crossword. We all had a drink. Then Hannah said she wanted another drink, but she said she fancied a mocha, which was very unusual because of the calories.
“I gave her £5 and she got up and something fell out of her book. It was a card addressed to mum and dad. That made me concerned.
I ran towards her. I was about to grab her. She went over.
Harry Bharaj
“She went off to get a drink and when I looked up she didn’t go left to the drinks bit, she went right.
“I think I knew she was walking towards the balcony. I said ‘Harry look at the balcony’.
“I knew then. He leapt up and ran after her. She walked briskly, it was very measured.
“She stood on a chair then a table then I just saw her legs go down the glass.”
Mr Bharaj added: “I ran towards her. I was about to grab her. She went over. I watched her fall. I couldn’t do anything. I screamed “please, anyone call an ambulance”.”
He told the hearing Hannah was a ‘perfectionist’ who had become anxious while studying for her summer exams.
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Mr Bharaj said: “I think her stress was related to her own aspirations and her high standards, she said herself she was determined to get 10 A stars in her GCSEs which is no mean feat.
“She was stressed about that more than anything else. She wanted to be a high achiever. To a degree, the school supported that to an extent, the way she wanted to make sure she got her 10 A stars.”
The hearing continues.