Chris Flack said her daughter took her own life as a consequence of Detective Inspector Lauren Bateman’s personal decision to appeal against the plan to hand the former Love Island host a caution for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend, Lewis Burton.
Ms Flack admitted to hitting Mr Burton when officers were called to her home in London in December 2019, saying she did so because she found out he was cheating on her.
Prosecutors decided to charge Ms Flack with assault after Ms Bateman, the Metropolitan Police inspector on duty at the time, contested their initial decision.
Ms Flack’s mental health deteriorated and she took her own life in February 2020, weeks before she was due to stand trial.
Referencing Ms Bateman’s evidence during the inquest at Poplar Coroner’s Court, Mrs Flack said she felt “even more upset now than I did at the start” of the inquest, after the detective said she would not have acted any differently.
Mrs Flack told Ms Bateman: “If it had been… an ordinary person, you wouldn’t have prosecuted.
“I just think you should be disgusted with yourself so there is nothing we can do to bring Caroline back.
“I hope in hindsight you do regret this."
Coroner Mary Hassell asked Ms Bateman whether she was motivated by Ms Flack’s celebrity status to charge her.
All I can say is I was not biased and I treat everyone the same.
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The coroner said: “[Ms Flack’s] family feel that she was being taught a lesson in a way that a non-celebrity would not have been – that this was motivated by treating a celebrity in a way that a non-celebrity would not have been treated.
“Is it the case that you were motivated in part by Caroline’s celebrity status?”
Ms Bateman replied: “No absolutely not, I would have done exactly the same if it had been anyone.
“All I can say is I was not biased and I treat everyone the same.”
The inquest heard that when police arrived on the scene investigating a domestic disturbance Ms Flack told officers: “I hit him [Mr Burton], he was cheating on me.”
But Ms Bateman said Flack had not made it clear in her police interview later what she was admitting to.
The inquest heard that in her police interview, Flack said she flicked Mr Burton “to wake him up”, and she did not believe she caused his injury.
The coroner suggested Ms Bateman was “splitting hairs” in what she considered to be Flack’s admission of guilt.
Ms Bateman replied: “In my view, it wasn’t a clear admission of what had happened.”
A lack of admission meant the case could not be dealt with through a caution, the inquest was told.
