75-year-old mother-of-two was found dead on M27 by police

The family of a woman who fell from a motorway bridge as they desperately waited for mental health workers, is hoping for answers as to how she came to die.

Marion Munns, 75, was found on the carriageway of the M27 on November 12, 2015 having fallen from an overhead bridge.

Her devastated family instructed expert medical negligence lawyers Irwin Mitchell to investigate what happened between the family’s first call to Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust’s Community Mental Health Team and Marion’s body being discovered.

Just hours before her death Marion’s frantic family had called mental health crisis care workers after she became distressed at home and refused help from her worried husband, John and two daughters, Angela and Kim.

Mother-of-two Marion was able to slip away from her Southampton home via an upstairs window as her family waited for help. She was found dead by police after the family called 999 and reported her missing.

Marion’s daughter Angela Mote said: “The woman my family saw that night simply wasn’t my mum. My mum was a gentle, giving woman who would do anything for anyone. That night she was a woman in the depths of crisis.

“Nothing will bring my mum back, but my dad, sister and I now just want answers about what happened that night. I could not bear the idea of anyone else losing someone so dear to them in this same horrific way.”

A three-day inquest into Marion’s death has been scheduled to begin at 10am on October 24 at Winchester Coroner’s Court.

Rebecca Brown, an expert medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, representing the family, said: “The last 11 months have been an agonising wait for answers for Marion’s family. Understandably they have many questions about what happened that night, not least why Marion’s behaviour wasn’t taken more seriously.

“It is very important for the family to know whether lessons can be learned from Marion’s death so that other families of people in the midst of a mental health crisis do not suffer the devastating loss that they have.”

Our medical negligence lawyers can help if you have lost a loved one due to a preventable suicide caused by mental health care failings. See our Failure To Prevent Suicide Claims page for more information. You can read more about Irwin Mitchell's work with medical negligence claims here.