A CHILDREN’S SERVICES worker who struggled with bipolar disorder was found dead in her garden by her husband, a court heard.

Emma Warner, 41 from Tilehurst, died of compression to the neck but a coroner could not confirm she died by suicide.

Alison McCormick, who presided over an inquest into Warner’s death, said she could not be sure the family worker had the capacity to intend to kill herself at the time of her passing on May 2, 2021.

Reading Coroner’s Court heard how Warner was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2010.

READ MORE: Plea given by Reading man charged with disappearance of Bracknell woman

A statement from her GP indicated there was an impression that Warner also showed signs of seasonal affective disorder after she noticed a “dip into depression” from September to February each year.

In the days before her death, the court heard how Warner was struggling with sleeping and had had an argument with her friends at a wedding.

On May 2, her husband asked Emma’s best friend to come to their house to support his wife as she was in the midst of a ‘blip’.

She was described as being “spacey”, “zoned out” and “paranoid” about losing her job.

In a statement given to police, her friend said Emma gave the impression she would not self-harm and that she was “against people harming themselves.”

Emma’s friend left the house at 10pm. Her husband returned home at 2am after going out for a work event.

READ MORE: Driver was playing on her phone when she hit tree, court hears

He said that when he got home he slept on the sofa to avoid waking Emma after first going outside to sit in the garden for a brief period.

The husband claimed he did not see Emma in the garden at this point.

Emma’s husband awoke at around 9am and could not find his wife -- who he had known for nine years and been married to for two years -- in the house.

Tragically, he then discovered her not breathing and on her back in their garden.

Emergency services were called and a neighbour started giving Emma CPR but she was pronounced dead within 30 minutes of being discovered.

Summing up the evidence, Ms McCormick said Warner was treated “generally successfully” for her mental health issues.

Her last contact with mental health services was in January 2020, the court heard.

Ms McCormick opted against ruling that Warner died by suicide after telling the court no suicide note had been found following her passing.

She said: “There is no evidence she had any suicidal ideation or plan.

READ MORE: Reading teen stole £4,000 worth of goods from Harrods

“Although it is known from the evidence that she particularly bad blip, it is not clear to me if Emma had the capacity to form intent [to kill herself].

“The question of her intent remains unclear.

“I find that Emma did take her life but there is insufficient evidence for me to find that she had the capacity to form the intent to end her life.”

Concluding, Ms McCormick said Emma’s death was “sudden, unexpected and terribly tragic.”

She added that Emma had an “amazing amount of support.

The coroner continued: “It is just tragic even with all this support that Emma took her life.

“Everybody did everything they could have done to give Emma all the love and support she needed.”

The inquest into Emma Warner’s death was held at Reading Coroner’s Court at Reading Town Hall on Wednesday, January 19.