'She will be missed forever' - family pay tribute to 'wonderful' Sheffield mum who took her own life aged 28

Jodie Reaney’s family, speaking after her inquest, were united in their love and praise for the 28-year-old, who leaves behind two young children.

Her brother, Callum Reaney, described her as the ‘best sister you could ask for’.

“She will be missed forever,” he said.

Mum Juana Reaney said: “I can’t imagine anyone nicer. She was lovely, and would do anything for anyone.”

“She was a fantastic mum, her children were her world,” her aunt, Zoe Frith, said.

Senior coroner Chris Dorries said Jodie’s body was found at her Upperthorpe home on the afternoon of June 25 this year, after concerns ‘had been raised about her welfare’.

Family friend Adam Warren was the first person to find her, after using a ladder to gain access to her home through a partially-open first floor window.

Jodie was found hanged and was pronounced dead by paramedics called to the scene.

Adam said in a statement he went to Jodie’s home after seeing a Facebook post from her mum in which she said she had not heard from her daughter in 12 to 15 hours and wanted to know whether anyone had seen her.

Her mother said Jodie called her on June 22 this year – the Saturday before she died – saying she had phoned police because her ‘ex-partner had tried to get into the house’.

She said both she and Jodie phoned police on a number of occasions that evening, but after ascertaining it was not a ‘life-threatening situation’ they did not arrive at her home until the following day.

Juana said: “She was really upset, I went down there, and phoned the police myself. The woman on the phone said ‘Is she more or less in a life threatening situation?’.

“I said ‘no, but she’s frightened, and he’s been back twice now’. Nobody came, phoned the police again. I phoned her on Sunday morning, and they still hadn’t come, and she was still quite distressed.”

Jodie’s grandmother Marie Brailsford said in a statement she spent time with Jodie the day before she died and said she was ‘struggling with what she had done in relation to phoning the police about her ex-partner’.

She said Jodie ‘did not want to have her son’s father taken away from him,’ but said she tried to reassure Jodie that she had ‘done the right thing’.

Mr Dorries said the concerns about how long it had taken for the police to respond to her callswere subject of an ongoing IOPC – Independent Office for Police Conduct – investigation.

He said he had made a note of what had been said about the police’s conduct but it was not a matter for him to rule on or to take into consideration when returning his conclusion into Jodie’s death.

In a report submitted to the court, Jodie’s GP said she had ‘some depression but had not sought help’ for it.

Marie told the court that on the day before she died, Jodie told her she was planning on going back to her GP to have her ‘mental health checked out,’ and said she had offered to go with her.

Mr Dorries concluded Jodie had ‘taken her own life’.

Addressing her family, he said: “I’m very, very sorry indeed that you have to had to come here and listen to that today. The last thing for me to say is I’m really, really sorry that you are here today. Please accept my condolences.”

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