A “gorgeous and smiley” air hostess killed herself after becoming convinced she was about to lose her dream job for getting drunk by a hotel swimming pool. Jasmin Winthrop, 25, a flight attendant for Virgin Atlantic, was “grounded” from flying after becoming unwell on a journey from London to Jamaica in January. While recovering from a sinus infection at a five-star hotel in Montego Bay and awaiting permission to fly home, she met up with other Virgin staff and spent a day drinking sparkling wine and cocktails.
After becoming “tipsy”, she vomited in public and was consumed by “embarrassment” over the following hours despite insistence from senior colleagues that she wouldn’t be “in troube” as a result. The next morning, other staff members messaged Miss Winthrop multiple times and, upon receiving no response, asked security to help them access her room. After gaining entry, they discovered that the 25-year-old had hanged herself. A note left near her body read: “Truly I loved my job at Virgin Atlantic more than anything but I f****d it up.”
Jamaican Police said there was no evidence of foul play after an investigation into her death had concluded.
An inquest for the Poole native in Bournemouth heard that Miss Winthrop, who had previously worked on flights from Britain to the Americas, become unwell two hours into the trip to Jamaica on January 23.
After suffering extreme pain to her jaw caused by a sinus infection, she was told to rest for the remainder of the flight then taken to a medical centre the next day for a CT scan.
Her fellow crew members flew home on January 25, but Miss Winthrop had not recovered so stayed on. A new crew arrived at the hotel the following day, who she was introduced to on the morning of January 27.
After spending the day drinking with them, she was helped up to her room at around 4:45pm. In a message to her colleague later that night, she wrote: “I feel so embarrassed. That’s what you get for being on your own for a few days then going a bit mad. I’m so anxious, am I going to lose my job or anything?”
The inquest also heard that she asked in another message whether the flight service manager “hated her” and, in a further voice note, said she would take her own life if she got fired.
Her flight servivce manager Kiri Page, who found the hostess’s body, said: “She was tearful and apologetic and kept saying, ‘Sorry, I don’t want to lose my job’.
“I reassured Jasmin that she was not in trouble. I didn’t say at any point [that] I was reporting her behaviour. We went to the room with security, it was Shame [Browne], the first officer, myself and the security staff. Shane pulled the curtain back and I could see his reaction – he was just screaming.”
A post-mortem report found that Ms Winthrop’s blood alcohol level was above the drink-drive limit at the time of her death.
A GoFundMe page set up after her passing has raised over £10,000 for her family, and the inquest was told that the 25-year-old had been planning to take her mother on holiday to South Africa in the week that she died.
Her mother, Gemma Winthrop, speaking via videolink, said her daughter had been “thrilled” to get a job with Virgin and “forged new friendships with every trip”.
“We didn’t have any concerns whatsoever about Jasmin’s mental health either at home or when she left for Jamaica,” she added.
“This is a result of what happened during her time in Jamaica. She made it clear in voice notes and her suicide note [that] it was about her fear of losing her job.”
Ms Winthrop’s colleague Dylan Bork wrote on the fundraising page: “Jasmin was the smiliest person there, she was just so happy. Every day, Jasmin would walk in with a smile, eager to learn and get to know everybody…Rest in peace, you gorgeous girl.”
Virgin Atlantic said in a statement: “We are devastated that a member of our cabin crew community sadly passed away whilst overseas. Our people mean the world to us and Jasmin was much loved by all of her colleagues. She truly loved being cabin crew and she shone every time she stepped onboard, wearing her uniform with great pride.
“All our deepest sympathies are with her family and loved ones.”