Pc failed to cope with fiancee says her sister
The fiance of a Wolverhampton police worker who died after being struck by a tram said that he felt "on the brink" and "could not cope" with her less than 24 hours before she died, an inquest was told.
The fiance of a Wolverhampton police worker who died after being struck by a tram said that he felt "on the brink" and "could not cope" with her less than 24 hours before she died, an inquest was told.
Cheryl Flanagan's sister, Lisa, a personnel worker at Bilston Street police station where her sister's fiance, Ian Bracey, also worked, said he made the comment on the day she died.
Miss Flanagan said: "He said that he couldn't cope with Cheryl and couldn't cope with her put-downs.
"He said that he felt on the brink. I thought he meant that he was at his wit's end with her."
Miss Flanagan said her sister, a data handler at Bilston Street, and former Pc Bracey who worked in the station's library of audio interview tapes, had been together for about six months when the tragedy happened.
She said the relationship moved at "warp speed" as they got engaged in the two months before the tragedy.
They moved in together less than three weeks before the death, but "things weren't right and they weren't compatible", she told the jury.
She said: "He only ever talked about football and after a time, they ran out of things to say to each other."
The inquest heard Miss Flanagan would sometimes slap Mr Bracey, but he never hit back. Lisa Flanagan said that on the night of the tragedy, in December 2003, she and her sister went for a drink at The Bank bar in Wolverhampton city centre, after work before going to find Pc Bracey at The Fire Club, Market Street.
Bracey appeared drunk and the three stayed until they headed back to the family home in Greencroft, Bilston, to eat a Chinese takeaway.
The three sat in "complete, uncomfortable silence" before Cheryl Flanagan told Mr Bracey that she would be taking her belongings from his flat near the Tettenhall Road the next day.
Lisa Flanagan told the jury Mr Bracey had then said: "You can do what you like", before picking up his coat and storming out.
Cheryl Flanagan followed him, but Lisa "did not want to get involved" and went to sleep on the sofa.
She was woken up later by her father and two police officers, who broke the news of her sister's death.
