Suicide mother killed daughter unlawfully
Updated on 28 September 2009
A Loughborough jury finds that 18-year-old Francesca Hardwick was unlawfully killed by her mother, Fiona Pilkington, who committed suicide.
The pair were discovered in their burning car at the side of the A47 near their home in Barwell, Leicestershire, in October 2007, the jury at Loughborough town hall heard.
The inquest had heard that the family, including Ms Pilkington's son Anthony, now 19, were subjected to years of abuse in their street from a gang of youths.
The jury was told the gang, some as young as 10, pelted the family home with eggs and stones, lit fires in their front garden and locked Anthony in a shed at knifepoint.
Today coroner Olivia Davison told the jury of four men and four women that they should be the "arbiters of fact" when they consider their verdicts.
She said the jury had to consider who died, when they died and establish how the deaths occurred.
