A
bridesmaid hanged herself in the UK just hours after her sister's wedding, an
inquest has heard.
Rebecca
Darnell, 30, was still wearing her bridesmaid's dress when she was found dead
at her home in Addlestone, Surrey after the ceremony.
Ms
Darnell, known to her family as 'Boo', was described as having been 'the life
and soul of the party' at her older sister, Joanna's, wedding.
But
the coroner was told she had a row with her partner of four years, Carlo Salamone,
in a taxi on the way home from the party.
Mr
Salamone told the inquest he had been planning to ask Ms Darnell to marry her
this summer
Mr Salamone slept on the sofa when they got home
and later went upstairs to find her dead, the inquest heard. She was still
wearing her bridesmaid's dress and jewellery from the night before.
Her
family members told of their shock, having seen Ms Darnell enjoying herself
only hours earlier at the wedding in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey.
Her
father David told the coroner: 'She was the life and soul. She got everybody up
and dancing, which is no mean feat. She was getting everyone involved.'
Her
aunt, Jacqueline Nash, said Rebecca was a 'happy, bubbly' person, who had
recently organised her sister's Joanna's hen party and was excited to see her
get married to fiancé Matt Wilson.
'She
was always fun to be around so you always tried to see Boo when you could,' she
said. 'She had a real zest for life and everyone wanted to know her.'
Toxicology
tests taken after her death showed she was double the drink driving limit, with
162mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
Mr
Salamone said his partner had been 'very happy' on the day of the wedding, on
November 8 2013, and, although she had drunk vodka and cola, had not seemed
excessively drunk.
Taxi
driver Khalik Meah said the couple had been arguing when he gave them a lift
back from the party some time after midnight.
Asked
whether the couple rowed a lot, Mr Salamone said they would argue when they
were drunk, but this was only around once a month and this had been no worse
than normal.
Mr
Salamone told the inquest in Woking, Surrey that he had met Ms Darnell in
around 2010 through a close friend who worked with her at Alpha Hospital in
Woking, Surrey.
She was juggling work as a youth counsellor specialising in substance abuse with studying for a Masters degree in family therapy.
'She
was my life partner,' the garage owner said. 'That evening at the wedding I had
spoken to Jo's husband and arranged the following summer in Dubai [where the
newlyweds lived] to ask Rebecca to marry me. I wanted to spend the rest of my
life with her.'
However,
he added: 'Rebecca was very good at making everyone feel better. She often had
this iron curtain around her. She would never show people her feelings.'
The
counsellor had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was aged 25 years,
the coroner heard, leaving her reliant on insulin to regulate her blood sugar
levels.
Her
medication had made her put on weight, which Mr Salamone said she worried
about, weighing herself every morning and evening.
Once,
during a severe hypoglycaemic attack, she fell into a coma which lasted four
days and left her with minor memory problems.
Her
father David said his daughter, who grew up in Hertford before the family moved
to Guildford, Surrey, had been a perfectionist.
He
said: 'She set herself high standards, she had aspirations. She wanted to
succeed and as a family I think we are all very determined and she had those
attributes.'
She
had found her diabetes diagnoses 'difficult,' he said, coming quite late in her
life, but insisted she had it 'all in hand.'
'We're
not really sure that she did totally,' he added.
Earlier last year, Ms Darnell organised her sister's hen party. Family said they could not explain her actions
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