A SCHOOLGIRL plunged to her death from a sports pavilion minutes after being shown ''gruesome'' pictures in a book called Carnival of the Grotesque, an inquest was told.
Odette Coulson, 14, had been one a group of pupils on the veranda of the cricket pavilion during a lunch break at Ripon Grammar School when she fell down stairs and fractured her skull.
Coroner John Sleightholme, sitting at Harrogate, recorded an accidental death verdict on Odette, from Sharow, near Ripon, after hearing evidence from four of the group of teenagers.
Mr Sleightholme said that after looking at the book Odette had fallen backwards. She died 20 minutes after arriving at Harrogate District Hospital.
The Coroner said the book may have contributed to Odette's death, but he had deliberately not sought to identify who had taken it into school.
Witnesses said Odette had fallen down the steps within minutes of ''flicking through the book which contained some gruesome pictures.''
Asked by the Coroner if Odette had been squeamish one witness replied: ''Last year in biology we were watching a video of people being injected and she fainted.''
Updated: 11:03 Thursday, September 27, 2001
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