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The Sun
A CELEBRITY dog walker who appeared on The Apprentice hanged herself after becoming stressed with running her business, an inquest heard yesterday.
Lucille Kennedy – who had battled depression in the past – had been to get help from her GP three days before she died.
The 56-year-old – known as Lucy – had also tried to end her life two weeks earlier with an overdose of pills.
The canine training and behaviour expert ran Happy Dogs, which looked after pets of the rich and famous.
Four years ago she appeared on an episode of the BBC show, starring Lord Sugar, when candidates had to make dog food as one of their challenges.
Lucille appeared on The Apprentice when the contestants had to make dog food
She had also featured on Channel 4’s It’s Me Or The Dog, Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff and Sky One series A Different Breed with her Welsh terrier, Ted.
CCTV cameras at rural home in Tetsworth near Thame, in Oxfordshire, caught the moment she killed herself on October 31 last year.
Pal Gordon Summer found her after helping walk the dogs.
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He said: “I took the dogs out to the paddocks near to the house. During the walk I checked my phone and saw Lucy had called about 10 minutes before. I called her back but couldn’t get through.”
He then returned to her house and found her still alive and dialled 999.
She was rushed to hospital but doctors couldn’t save her.
He added: “I knew Lucy had been depressed for a long time. She had tried to commit suicide two weeks before. She said she had looked up how to do it online. What she looked up was in relation to taking pills.”
Lucille was found dead near the kennels of her Oxfordshire home
Det Con Paul Geddert, of Thames Valley Police, said: “I saw CCTV in the living room and around the rest of the house.”
Lucy had only one direct member of her family, her half brother Leon, who last saw her last April.
Lucille had tried to kill herself before
Her GP, Dr Jedth Phornnarit, said: “She had a previous history of anxiety and depression in 2008, this had not been an active issue for some years.”
Senior coroner for Oxfordshire, Darren Salter, said: “I am satisfied there is a history going back a few years of anxiety and depression although not much between 2008 until late 2016 when things appeared to have resurfaced with the stress of finances and things of that nature. It seems she had spoken to her GP a number of times including October 28.”
He added: “She was being medicated and had numbers for emergency contact if her condition deteriorated. She didn’t seem to have disclosed any suicidal intention to her GP.”
Verdict: Suicide