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Woman died in motorway bridge fall hours after seeing stalker ex-boyfriend

A woman died after falling from a motorway bridge just hours after being 'terrified' when she saw her stalker ex-boyfriend on a night out, an inquest heard.

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Kamaljit Sidhu died on October 25 last year after the fall near junction 7 of the M6 following weeks of harassment.

The 29-year-old had been sitting on a ledge drinking wine just moments before.

Her death was described as 'tragic' by Black Country coroner Robin Balmain who recorded a verdict of death due to misadventure. Ryan Dey was sentenced to two years in prison in April after admitting stalking Miss Sidhu.

Former bar worker Miss Sidhu had been to see her friend at Poppy Reds in Birmingham on the night of her death, and had hidden from Dey who was trying to find her, the inquest at Smethwick Coroners' Court heard.

Her friend Wioletta Zawislak said she was her usual happy and bubbly self before she saw Dey.

"She was really happy and laughing until she saw him, then she crawled to the toilet to hide from him. She was terrified and shaking," she said.

CCTV footage showed her movements until around 2.30am on the day of her death, but she was not seen again until she was on the ledge at 4.24am.

Junction 7 of the M6 was shut after her fall.

The inquest was told that three young men had seen Miss Sidhu, of Newton Road, Great Barr, sitting on a ledge drinking wine and holding onto a gate above the M6 before letting go and shouting 'no, no, no'.

She fell onto the slow lane of the northbound M6, and was seen by witnesses to still be alive when she fell around 25 feet from the bridge. She later died from multiple injuries.

Miss Sidhu left a note to friends and family on a Dove moisturiser bottle that was found after her death that said 'I loved you all. I just got weak. Sorry. x'.

See also: Family's tributes to M6 bridge fall victim

Recording a verdict of death due to misadventure, Mr Balmain said what she was doing was 'inherently dangerous'.

He added: "This is a young lady who was troubled clearly.

"She had earlier suggested that her family might be at some risk if she went home. What happened is tragic." Speaking after the inquest Narinder Kaur, Miss Sidhu's elder sister, said Dey had made threats to her sister, if she ended the relationship.

She said: "Kam said to us that whatever he says he will do, he will do."

Mrs Kaur said the family still did not know where Miss Sidhu was between 2.30am and when she was seen on the ledge at 4.24am. She added: "It's disappointing because there is a large gap there. No-one knows what she was doing or who she was with for about two hours.

"We were hoping to find out what happened then during the inquest but we didn't. We think there is more to it." Dey, from Hollyoak Close, Oldbury, was imprisoned in April after admitting stalking Miss Sidhu at Birmingham Crown Court.

During that court hearing it was revealed that Dey, who was 23 at the time, had refused to accept she wanted to end their relationship and so threatened her, contacted friends and searched for her.

The court was told the pair had been together for 18 months when she tried to end the relationship in October last year. He had been harassing her in the months leading up to the end of the affair and she died just a week after the split, during which he had stepped up his campaign. During their time together Dey stole her mobile phone, used it himself and not returned it.

He hacked into her Facebook account to find out who she was talking to and objected to her seeing friends, either at home or going to meet them.

He also threatened to reveal personal secrets to her family.

He would also ring her parents' Great Barr home at all hours of the day and night, prompting them to change the number, and sit outside the house in his car regardless of the time of day and honk his horn so she came outside to see him.

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