Book agent's daughter died from overdose after burying mother

In a double tragedy for Gillon Aitken, his only child Charlotte, 27, was found taking her last breaths by her half-brother at their mother's home in Morocco.

She had taken four sorts of drugs to "relieve her stress", West London coroner's court heard today.
The exact cause of the aspiring literary agent's death could not be established because of the time taken to fly her body back from Tangiers where she had been living with her mother, Cari Margareta Bengtsson.

However, a pathologist today said the most likely explanation was the "highly dangerous" combination of alcohol and drugs she had taken.Charlotte's father, who had separated from his Swedish-born wife in 2000, said today that Charlotte had problems with self-harming, alcohol and drugs as she grew up but he thought she had got over them.

He believed his daughter had no intention of taking her own life.

Coroner Alison Thompson asked: "If it wasn't for what happened to her mother, she would have come through?" Mr Aitken, 73, replied: "I have not the slightest doubt... I do not think her mother had prepared her for her death, she had slightly cried wolf about her health."

Mr Aitken, whose list of authors includes Sebastian Faulks and Helen Fielding, flew to Morocco after being told of his ex-wife's death on August 9 last year.

He said: "Charlotte was stricken by the news but it was a complicated position. There was a sense of anger with her and also love. Charlotte was alternating between stoicism and great grief, it was very stressful."

After the funeral on August 15, Charlotte, who had trouble sleeping, had drunk alcohol and taken the drugs to "find peace". The next day her half-brother, John Svanberg, found her on a bed at their mother's house barely breathing. He said: "I held her in my arms as she took her last breath."

Mrs Thompson recorded a verdict of death by misadventure, adding: "She has died from probable complications of alcohol or drug use."