A woman drowned her seven-year-old son before killing herself thinking it would be better for them both to die due to her "extreme" and "misdirected" anxiety, a coroner has found.


Yulia Gokcedag, 35, and her son Timur were pronounced dead at their former home in Lockesfield Place, on the Isle of Dogs, on August 13.

Poplar Coroner's Court heard the financial analyst and her son were found dead after 3am, with Mrs Gokcedag hanged and Timur in the bath with his clothes at the side.

Dr Nathaniel Cary, who carried out Timur's post-mortem examination, said the boy suffered minimal bruising to his scalp and chin which could have been "consistent with enforced immersion".

Mrs Gokcedag's husband Mehmet told the court: "She was a good mother.

"She loved our son and it is very unimaginable why and how she could do this, the child that came out of her, why would she take his life?"

Ahead of the coroner's determinations on Wednesday, December 16, Mr Gokcedag said he thought his wife was afraid of Timur taking his own life if she died by suicide.

He said: "She feared for what Timur would have in the future, that's why she decided to save him now."

The inquest heard Mrs Gokcedag had been diagnosed with breast cancer in January and underwent chemotherapy.

The court was also told she was given a 97 per cent chance of surviving the cancer by doctors, but believed she would be part of the 3pc who did not survive.

Professor Paul Ellis, an oncologist, told the inquest that the 35-year-old had finished chemotherapy and had been scheduled for surgery the week after her death.

He said: "On that day, August 11, I thought Yulia had done brilliantly, I could see her and her mum were delighted with how well she had done.

"I had every expectation that she would be turning up for surgery next week."

Dr Mark Flynn, a clinical psychologist, said Mrs Gokcedag had severe anxiety and a "huge amount of self-recrimination about her possible responsibility for the diagnosis and the course of her treatment".

The inquest heard after Mrs Gokcedag left the family home in Wimbledon with Timur, no activity was detected on either of their phones after 1.50pm on August 12.

After her death, her phone and laptop were examined as part of the investigation and showed she had searched suicide on the internet at least once a day since April.

Senior Coroner Mary Hassell determined that Timur was unlawfully killed and that his mother's death was a suicide.

Ms Hassell said she was not allowed to assign criminal culpability or blame on to a named person.
Explaining she could only outline the facts, she said: "I am entirely satisfied that he was drowned by his mum.

"No other person was seen entering the property, there were no signs of a disturbance, there were no signs of forced entry.

"The series of events seems clear to me that Yulia drowned Timur and then hanged herself."

Determining they had both died on August 12, she added: "Her anxiety was so extreme and so very misdirected and misjudged, she appears in her own mind to have thought it better to take Timur with her."

Ms Hassell added she was "very, very likely to have been cured" of the cancer.

She continued: "There is a complete lack of logic to fear death from cancer and to take one's own life. She was not acting logically.

"She was better at hiding than those around her were at discovering the truth."

Ms Hassell ended the inquest by expressing her condolences to the family, telling them she had "rarely" seen such a tragedy.

As police had been informed of Mrs Gokcedag and Timur's disappearance ahead of the discovery of their bodies, the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards was informed as routine. A referral was made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct who referred it back to the local professional standards unit where enquiries are ongoing.

Following the conclusion of the inquest, Detective Inspector Joanna Yorke, of the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “The death of anyone outside of natural circumstances is a matter of deep regret and our thoughts and sympathies remain with Yulia’s husband, Timur’s father, and remaining family, who have suffered immeasurable loss.

“I sincerely hope that the finding provides them with a measure of comfort and a degree of closure now that the legal process is at an end.”

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