A WOMAN killed herself and her young son after battling mental health issues triggered by the return of her estranged husband, an inquest heard.

Rubina Khan, 43, of Oatlands Drive, Slough, and ten-year-old son, Amaar, were hit by a high-speed train at Slough Station on September 23, 2014.

An inquest held this week heard how Mrs Khan, a mother of three, had been battling a number of personal issues that had been triggered by the unexpected return of her estranged husband, Jahinger Khan, whom she had been separated from for about six years.

In 2014 Mr Khan approached her family and expressed his desire to reconcile with Mrs Khan and their three children - and that he would travel back to Britain from Pakistan to be with them. But the inquest heard this instigated a downward spiral of depression and anxiety in Mrs Khan.

She was given antidepressants by her GP and referred to mental health services. However, her troubles continued to deepen and developed into self harm. Testimony from family members said they had witnessed her slapping herself, pouring a cup of tea over her head, and calling out her children’s names for no reason. She had also expressed fear that her worsening mental state would lead to social services taking her children away.

Her troubles culminated in an episode whereby Mrs Khan locked herself in a room and attempted to throttle herself with a telephone cord. Her family alerted mental health services, and she voluntarily agreed to be treated at Prospect Park Hospital in Reading, in late July, 2014. There, doctors said that Mrs Khan’s mental health had improved significantly.

Doctors said she had denied the extent of the self harm, saying much of it was ‘play-acting’, and that she insisted she was not suicidal, assuring them that she cared deeply for her children and that Islam forbade suicide. She told mental health staff she had felt ‘pressured’ by some members of her family to reconcile with her husband, although her family denied they ever did so. Over the course of her 12-day stay she became more hopeful, saying that she was considering giving her husband another chance, and was searching for a new job.

When she was discharged in early August, doctors rated the threat to her children and herself as low.

Mrs Khan did indeed begin living with her husband again, and was visited for follow ups by mental health services, in which her condition seemed to have improved and reported no further incidents of self harm.

She was discharged back into the care of her GP.

On the day of her suicide, Mrs Khan took her son to Slough station, meeting her brother along the way.

Upon being questioned by him, she said she had a dentist appointment in London and that Amaar had a day off school, which her brother accepted.

She then purchased a ticket to Windsor, and moved to a platform of Slough station.

Testimony from the train driver recounted that Mrs Khan held her son tightly by the platform edge, and spoke to him briefly, before the incident.

Berkshire Coroner, Peter Bedford, returned a verdict of suicide in the case of Mrs Khan, and unlawful killing in the case of Amaar.

Mr Bedford said that had Mrs Khan lived, a jury would have had ‘no difficulty’ in returning a verdict of manslaughter.

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