Pole dancer's suicide was 'a cry for help'

Rebecca Brumpton had been experiencing financial difficulties while being out of work at the end of last year.

The 23-year-old single mother had worked at several nightclubs as a pole dancer and had work lined up for a photoshoot as a promotions model for a London club.

The inquest heard that Miss Brumpton had an argument with her boyfriend, Robert Hope, on October 8 last year and told him to move out of her flat.

Later that evening she called her sister Jessica in an upset state and asked her to come round.

When Jessica arrived she found her sister hanged herself while her three-year-old daughter was in the property and she called for an ambulance.

Attempts were made by paramedics to save Miss Brumpton but she was pronounced dead at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth.

The inquest heard that Miss Brumpton, from Portsmouth, had been prescribed anti-depressants and had made previous suicide attempts.

But Detective Constable Katie Wakefield, of Hampshire police, said that her mother, Deborah Brumpton, described her daughter as a ''drama queen'' and believed she had only been crying out for help.

Det Con Wakefield said: ''Her mother said that her daughter wanted to be seen as a strong independent single mum but she knew underneath she was quite fragile.

''She thinks Rebecca was being dramatic and set it up and it all went wrong.''

Portsmouth and South East Hampshire Coroner David Horsley said a post-mortem examination showed that Miss Brumpton had been drinking but the cause of death was hanging.

Recording a verdict of accidental death, he said: ''This has been some kind of cry for help and she has been confused because she has drunk too much.

''I think she was expecting to be found before things went too far but sadly what she has done is a very dangerous thing and the effects of hanging come on within seconds.''