M6 suicide leap verdict reached

A 16-year-old Finnish student described by the Stafford family she was staying with as a "lovely, wonderful girl" killed herself by leaping in front of a lorry on the M6.

An inquest has heard and recorded the verdict.

Cannock Coroner's Court was told that Hanna Maarit Hakkarainen died instantly after being hit by the Slovenian lorry on the inside lane of the southbound carriageway, between the two slip roads at Junction 14 for Stafford north on October 27 last year.

Coroner for Staffordshire South Andrew Haigh found she died of multiple injuries and recorded a verdict that she killed herself.

Miss Hakkarainen had arrived three months before to stay with Janice and Michael Willich, of Broughton Close, in Holmcroft, as part of a student exchange programme where she attended King Edward VI High School and Stafford College.

Mrs Willich said: "She was a very happy, typical teenager.

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing but when I look back on some of the events that were taking place I think was there something we could have been aware of, like the fact that she might have been a bit homesick.

"She was a lovely, wonderful girl."

The court also heard evidence from PC Kevin Goodman, who said none of her friends had an inkling there was a problem.