Caroline Flack died in February 2020 before an assault trial; the coroner found the prosecution was among the causes, and her family said police and prosecutors singled her out

Caroline Flack was charged with assaulting her boyfriend, Lewis Burton, in December 2019. Burton said he did not want her prosecuted. Police had planned a caution, and her mother told the inquest that a detective inspector, Lauren Bateman, appealed against it. Bateman said she was not biased and treated everyone the same. Flack died in February 2020, before the trial. At the inquest in August 2020 coroner Mary Hassell recorded suicide. She found that learning the prosecution would proceed and fearing press intrusion worsened Flack's mental state. The coroner said the family might read the Crown Prosecution Service review document as showing a wish to find reasons to continue the prosecution. The CPS said its code for prosecutors was correctly applied. Flack's family accused police and prosecutors of singling her out because of her fame. Her brother Paul Flack also died by suicide, and an inquest reported on 22 October 2026 heard he did not recover from her death^†. These are findings and statements from the inquest and press.