Ex BBC Journalist Allegedly Hangs Herself in a Turkish Airport After Missing Her Flight (Photo)

Posted by Odinaka on Mon 19th Oct, 2015 - tori.ng

Ex-BBC journalist found hanging in Turkish airport suffered PTSD after being arrested for 'spying' in Africa and had revealed she was a potential ISIS target.

A former BBC journalist, Jacky Sutton, was found hanged in a toilet cubicle at Istanbul's Turkish Airport after missing a connecting flight to Erbil in Iraq from London, Heathrow.

On that fateful day, it was reported that she appeared distressed after being told by airline staff that the airline was not responsible for the situation and she would have to buy a new ticket. But she replied that she couldn’t afford one because she wasn't financially buoyant.

The 50-year-old was said to have gone into a restroom and hanged herself using the laces of her shoes. She was later found in the toilets by three Russian passengers.

She held various positions over the years with humanitarian organisations and the United Nations as well as working as a producer for the BBC, often in war-torn countries.

She previously spoke about suffering from post-traumatic stress after being arrested for being an alleged spy in Africa. She had also spoken in June of her fears that she may be targeted by the Islamic State while working in the Iraqi city of Erbil as acting Iraq director for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.

Her death cames just five months after her predecessor at the organisation was killed in a car bomb attack in Baghdad.

Susan Hutchinson, a colleague at the Australian National University where she had been studying for a PhD, also said she did not believe it was suicide. She told the ABC:

'I am unconvinced that she would have committed suicide... I am sceptical of the idea. I absolutely think that there needs to be a full investigation.

I hope the (British) Foreign Office has full access in order to be able to conduct a proper investigation about the circumstances in which Jacky died and I hope that that is done internationally and in a transparent and cooperative way.'

Iraqi journalist, Mazin Elias, who had worked with her, told MailOnline that it was 'impossible' that she committed suicide, alleging that 'someone killed Jacky'.

'The kind of person that Jacky was, it's impossible she would have killed herself, impossible.

She's really looking for a better life for everyone. So kill herself? That's crazy. I'm really sad and sorry what happened, but if someone tells me 'she killed herself', I tell him: "No, that's wrong, someone killed Jacky".'

He also thought it extremely unlikely she would have missed her flight. 'No, that's impossible... we're not talking about a girl. She's a woman, an official woman, she's a big manager.'