Lesbian who married her lover in one of Britain’s first same-sex weddings was found hanged in a cemetery after the marriage fell apart.

Donna Canavan apparently hanged herself in the cemetary after the marriage to her partner failed.


A woman who married her lesbian lover in one of Britain’s first same sex weddings was found hanged in a cemetery, more than a year after the marriage fell apart, a coroner heard today.
Donna Canavan-McClung had divorced her partner of nine years and started a 'volatile' relationship with a new girlfriend who filed a domestic abuse complaint against her days before she died, an inquest into her death heard.
Mrs Canavan-McClung, 32, married mother-of-two Colleen Canavan in 2006, months after the law was changed to allow gay civil ceremonies in the UK.  But the marriage broke down after five years and they divorced in February last year.
Mrs Canavan-McClung, a lifeguard and swimming teacher who had recently lost her job, began a new relationship with a woman called Miranda Yardley, which, Dorset coroner Sherriff Payne said, was 'volatile'.

The new couple lived together most of the time but often fell out and had violent rows, the inquest heard.

Their problems came to a head this October when Miss Yardley went to the police claiming she was a victim of domestic abuse, before sending her lover a text saying she was bringing domestic abuse charges against her.

Mrs Canavan-McClung was upset by the news and told relations that she would 'go on the run' rather than be arrested, the coroner heard.

Her mother, Beth Rowles said: 'Miranda had contacted her and told her she had spent four hours in a police station pressing charges against Donna over a domestic problem, which frightened Donna and which is why she ran off.

'She could not face being arrested.  Her opinion, as far as we know, was "What’s the point of being here?"'
The inquest heard that Mrs Canavan-McClung had been prescribed anti-depressants after losing the job she loved at a local leisure centre earlier this year.

Her mother said she was 'tipped over the edge' when Miss Yardley turned up at her home and dumped her belongings on the driveway in the middle of the night on 7 October.

The inquest heard Mrs Canavan-McClung had sent a final text message to her mother saying: 'What’s the point? I’ve had enough. Nothing good ever happens to me. I will get the blame anyway.'
Two days later she sent a worrying text message to her father, and police later found her hanging in Weymouth Cemetery at 9.15pm that night, the inquest heard.

Source: MailOnline