A regional journalist took her own life after being “mistakenly” told she was not entitled to know if her former partner had a history of domestic abuse, an inquest has heard.

Coroner Mary Hassell has recorded a verdict of suicide in the case of Teresa McMahon, left, who worked for the Manchester Evening News between 2014 and 2016.

The 43-year-old, who also worked at Granada TV, was found hanged at her flat in 2021.

Her niece Lorna McMahon had previously called for a criminal investigation into her death after claiming she would not have been capable of killing herself.

A report revealed that GMP officers had delayed seeing Teresa, pictured, for nine days before “mistakenly” telling her she was not entitled to information about whether her ex-partner Robert Chalmers had any history of violence or abuse on the grounds they were no longer in a relationship.

At the inquest in London, the coroner concluded Teresa had taken her own life and that “no other person forced her to do that”.

According to a BBC report, she said: “I don’t have any evidence that any other person physically caused Teresa’s death.”

Mr Chalmers, who denied either hurting her physically or trying to control her, gave evidence by video-link from Bolton after he was arrested for failing to appear at the hearing.

Det Insp Charlotte Poole told the court last month that Teresa had made a “complaint of broken fingers and a potentially broken rib but had not sought medical attention for those injuries” and did not wish to assist in a prosecution of Mr Chalmers.

She said: “It’s not unusual for domestic abuse victims to not want to assist in a prosecution once they’ve made that report.”

The detective further revealed Mr Chalmers had been named in “three logs” of domestic abuse reports over an 11-year-period, although these were not necessarily convictions, and told the coroner there was “nothing to indicate” Teresa might have killed herself due to being subjected to coercive control.

Mr Chalmers accepted his relationship with Ms McMahon had been volatile but, asked by the coroner if he thought unhappiness with their relationship was a factor in her death, he said: “No.”

Det Chief Insp Gareth Humphreys told the inquest “no defence injuries” had been found on Teresa’s body, adding a journal written by her, seen by police, referred to “reasons why she wanted to die”.

Another officer, Det Con Max Baimakm said in a statement there were “no malicious or threatening communications between Teresa and Robert”, while messages read out from Mr Chalmers included those asking her to let him she was “OK”.

Teresa’s father Bernard told the inquest he thought his daughter’s death was the “tragic combination of being in a bad relationship, drinking too much alcohol and suffering depression.”

Ms Hassell said while the inquest was “not a public inquiry into GMP”, the police investigation into Teresa’s death was “not perfect”.

In a statement issued after the inquest, Assistant Chief Constable Steph Parker said GMP had “addressed concerns raised by the coroner around the benefit of scene photos in non-suspicious circumstances, and clearer retention periods for body-worn video”.

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