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00:00I've always kept everything of all my kids, which seems a bit silly, but I can't throw it away.
00:22And I'm so pleased that I have, because this is Carrie now for me.
00:27They're just things, like, when she was born, that's how big she was.
00:35That fitted her.
00:37And it shows she didn't grow very much, because that was her size shoe at the end, size two.
00:43I had really, really, really thin legs, and I was really self-conscious of them.
00:47I used to wear five pairs of tights.
00:49Boys used to call me lucky legs.
00:51Lucky legs?
00:52Lucky they don't break.
00:53Carrie and Jo, Jodie's her twin.
00:56They were never far apart.
00:57I love that video.
01:01It's one of the nicest evenings that the three of us had...
01:04The three of us had had.
01:10As a parent, we think our children are always going to be there.
01:16You'll be able to talk to them tomorrow.
01:18You'll be able to say things to them tomorrow.
01:19But you can't always.
01:24And just to remember the happy times, it's a reminder that you don't take anything for granted.
01:32Bye-bye.
01:34Don't take your children for granted.
01:36You know, I knew enough about Caroline that I should have seen this coming.
01:53Her vulnerability.
01:56I protected her when she was alive, as best I could.
02:06And what I'm doing now is protecting her in a different way.
02:13I want the real Caroline to be remembered, not this Caroline that was portrayed in the press.
02:22Love Island presenter Caroline Flack has appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to assaulting her boyfriend.
02:38The presenter was released on conditional bail before her trial on March the 4th.
02:44After the court, the press were relentless.
02:48We were being followed everywhere.
02:51At one point, I got out of the car to try and stop the paps following us.
02:57And a pap basically just ran me.
03:00Like, he just carried on driving and I was, like, pushing his car.
03:02From that moment, it felt like she was on the run.
03:05After the hearing, I couldn't communicate with Caroline.
03:09She was on social media, looking at what the public was saying.
03:25Social media was really tough on Caroline.
03:28But then, after the court hearing, she was all over the news.
03:31We just couldn't believe it.
03:33It was absolutely everywhere.
03:35All the major TV channels were reporting the prosecution's version of events, which just wasn't accurate.
03:46It's strange being back.
03:49This was just packed with press and everybody's screaming and shouting at Carrie.
03:55And this was a really dark day.
03:57But we didn't realise how much the rest of her life was, um, set that day.
04:06The statement given by the prosecutor set the tone for the next two months.
04:11That day, Caroline's face was everywhere.
04:14The headlines read as if she were a domestic abuser and had hit her boyfriend with a lamp.
04:18Exactly what information the prosecution was being fed by the police, but a lot of what she said in court was wrong in so many ways.
04:28I've spent years getting various documents that tell a different story of what happened that night.
04:35I've been able to cross-reference the police reports on the night when Carrie was arrested with a statement the prosecutor made.
04:45So where is this all about a lamp that haunts us?
04:51Where did that come from?
04:52Now, it's alleged that she hit him over the head with a lamp.
04:55She picked up a lamp and smashed him over the head.
04:58Almost caved his head in.
04:59With a lamp.
05:00The lamp.
05:00The prosecutor says he, Burton, said he had been asleep and had been hit over the head by Caroline with a lamp.
05:08But then, looking at the report written on the night by the police, it says,
05:15it's unclear what object was actually used to assault Mr Burton.
05:19He initially stated to officers that he assumed it was a desk fan or a lamp.
05:26Mr Burton stated, I don't know what it was.
05:29There was no compelling or direct evidence that anyone had been hit with a lamp.
05:37During Caroline's interview, under caution, Caroline's position always was that she had the phone in her hand.
05:42She went to rouse him and wake him and the phone connected with him.
05:45It couldn't have been more clear to anyone that read that transcript.
05:49The police report says,
05:51Miss Flack's phone has been seized as it has a significant amount of blood on it and a crack on one of the corners,
05:58suggesting this may have been the weapon.
06:01Wow.
06:02So it's actually in there that they thought it was a phone.
06:05Yeah.
06:06Nothing else was taken from that flat at all.
06:09You would think the weapon would have been seized.
06:12The lamp is just sat back at the property, not being touched, was never examined.
06:18We know that the evidence was the phone.
06:21Somebody made a decision to leave that out.
06:26I mean, I was sitting with Lewis back there and he couldn't believe what was being said.
06:32He actually took to Instagram and he said,
06:35You know, this is Carrie's life here.
06:46They're the things that get into the press and they're the things that she was going to be tried on.
06:51This is evidence that a prosecutor can bloody stand up and say about someone.
06:58I think it's disgusting.
07:00But the damage was done.
07:02And Carrie knew that people would be thinking about like that for the rest of their life.
07:06Yeah, forever.
07:07Yeah, she couldn't lose that.
07:09No, she'd never lose that tag.
07:11She hasn't lost it, even though she's dead.
07:23Caroline was in a bad place.
07:25She'd been in a spiral since her arrest.
07:28On Christmas Eve, we wanted to take her out.
07:32So we took her Christmas shopping.
07:34And bearing in mind, she hadn't been out.
07:37So from the day she was arrested to Christmas Eve, I don't know how long that was, maybe two weeks,
07:41she hadn't left a hotel room.
07:44And we were really confident that nobody was following us.
07:49And then we realised she was papped.
07:52And they wrote in the papers how she was beaming and joking.
08:08I think people would have thought she didn't have a care in the world.
08:18What nobody knows when they see these pictures in isolation is that she had been on suicide watch for two weeks.
08:26And we were trying to give her something normal to do.
08:31She wasn't laughing it off.
08:32If I'd seen her laugh or smile in that two weeks, I was like, thank God, maybe she won't die today.
08:38Maybe we can leave her for half an hour.
08:41Maybe there is a way out of this.
08:43Caroline thought she had no control.
08:59Lies were being told about her all the time.
09:04So Caroline was desperate to tell her side of the story.
09:08You know, get some truth out there.
09:10And even if she couldn't speak out, her agents may speak out on her behalf.
09:17Say something.
09:19But she kept being told, complete shutdown.
09:22Don't do anything.
09:26I want to ask her agent, why?
09:29Why was she silenced?
09:32Hello.
09:33Long time no see.
09:36All right, thank you.
09:37How are you?
09:39Good.
09:40All right?
09:46Are you okay?
09:47It's just, it's been since the funeral.
09:49I know, I know.
09:50Long time.
09:51Yeah.
09:52What?
09:57During the whole time Carrie was going through this, she was advised to just stay silent.
10:03I know that Carrie thought a lot of you and you were close.
10:07How did you manage that?
10:09So I think at first, we just thought it was a misunderstanding, everything was going to be fine.
10:15So we sort of didn't say anything, just told everyone to wait out.
10:19Later on, when it was coming to the press or comments, everything we checked with our lawyers.
10:25Because if she'd said something, those words could have been catastrophic in court and they'll be regurgitated in the press over and over again.
10:35And so, yes, she wanted to have her voice, but it was silence's safest, really.
10:44I understand that if she could have, you know, gone against the story.
10:52It would have gone some way to making it better for her.
10:56We knew what the truth was.
10:59You knew.
11:01But the newspapers, you can tell them till you're blue in the face.
11:06At this point, Caroline was worth more to them in print to be the villain than the hero that she was six months ago when she was hosting Love Island.
11:14You were no longer really managing the newspapers as such.
11:20It's uncontrollable at times.
11:21Yeah.
11:22You're dancing with the devil.
11:25Before she was arrested, Caroline was very good, actually.
11:29She knew acutely what the right response was a lot of the time.
11:37They were going to print a story about one of her boyfriends.
11:42It wasn't a very nice story.
11:43Caroline contacted the journalist directly and said, can we give them a nice story and exclusive so they make another story go away?
11:50But isn't that awful?
11:52Isn't that an awful way to have to live, to have to do that, to give information about something so that the bad information won't come out?
12:01Yeah.
12:01You know, we saw the tide turn on her.
12:05We just became completely powerless.
12:09It just, it just makes me sad and it makes me mad that something as awful as this going on in Caroline's life, she becomes not a person to the press.
12:24She's sort of expendable.
12:25A headline for 45p is what that is.
12:29Yeah.
12:29It's what it comes down to, isn't it?
12:31Yeah.
12:31Every time you put Caroline Flack in the newspapers, they sold.
12:40And on the front page, a lot more.
12:42She was the golden girl who delivered for so many years and, ironically, delivering even more in the worst period of her life.
12:54And Edgerard rang me up and said, listen, would she do a big interview about it?
12:58I said, well, I very much doubt it because it's still in the hands of the police and the prosecution.
13:02And he said, well, in that case, go and fuck her over.
13:06To hear that kind of, like, coming and you know what's coming before they do, you're like, Jesus Christ.
13:21Over that Christmas, Carrie seemed to be coping.
13:25And then on January the 1st, this was the headlines.
13:35Flack's bedroom bloodbath.
13:38And it was complete and utter shock.
13:42The way this story reads is that Caroline had hit her boyfriend with a lamp.
13:51And that was his blood.
13:53And that is so far from the truth.
13:58That was Caroline's blood, where she'd cut her wrists.
14:06Caroline reacted terribly because of the embarrassment.
14:15It was an embarrassment.
14:16This was her blood.
14:18Obviously, we wondered who took that picture and who gave it to the Sun.
14:28We were told at the beginning that it was actually a police officer.
14:33But it wasn't.
14:34Lewis admitted that he took that photo and sent it to one of his friends.
14:38And then one of his friends sold the picture without any information, without any backup, to the Sun newspaper.
14:48Once this came out, I don't think anyone thought of anything else then, that she was guilty.
14:56She was tried in the Sun newspaper and found guilty.
15:15Until something's written about your own family or friends, you don't realise how bad the press are.
15:33Because I'm not hearing Carrie's story because she's locked herself away out of shame.
15:46Because I'm not hearing Carrie's story because she's locked herself away out of shame.
16:01The only side I had was in the press.
16:04And my instant reaction was, if she did that, then she needs to be punished.
16:13I haven't got any facts because I'm not there.
16:16All I'm hearing is this.
16:20It affected the way I thought about my sister.
16:26The way that she felt that she could come to me for support.
16:29And she never could even just say, I didn't do it.
16:34She didn't even feel that I would believe her.
16:39Because she, you, you think, but it's in black and white.
16:43So people are going to listen much more to that than what I say.
16:46And that's to her sister.
16:50And that's what these lies do, how deep they go and how deeply they affect relationships.
16:55I let her down by not being there, by not finding out how she felt more.
17:02And I can never change anything.
17:09Every single person that was there, that let that go to print, should be ashamed of themselves.
17:16Because as far as I'm concerned, that is one of the main reasons why she isn't here today.
17:25Oh, hi there.
17:40My name's Chris Flack.
17:42And this is being recorded, this message, for a film that may go out with Disney.
17:49What I'm after today is if you could put me through to, sorry, are you all right?
17:56Oh, I thought you sighed.
17:57Sorry.
17:58I wonder if you could put me through to Victoria Newton.
18:03Yes.
18:04So this could be recorded for your Disney documentary?
18:07Yes.
18:08Hold on a second.
18:12Victoria Newton is the editor of The Sun.
18:14She said to me, I've come into The Sun to clean this paper up.
18:20So I'd like a front page apology, as large as they put the photo of her blood on the bed.
18:30I've been on hold for four minutes.
18:33Well, this is eight minutes now.
18:35No one's even come back to say, yeah, sorry for keeping you waiting.
18:39We're trying to find Victoria.
18:41Victoria, I'd love to just say, what have you put in place?
18:45What have you done to stop this happening?
18:48Eleven minutes now.
18:50Must be a busy news day.
18:53Hello, mate.
18:54Hello?
18:56Oh, sorry, I thought this was Andy.
18:58Hang on.
18:59Cut me off.
19:02I don't believe it.
19:04The way the press covered this story was one of the worst things at the time.
19:17I want to speak to a journalist to find out how something so misleading can appear on the front page of a national newspaper.
19:25So, Paul, part of this process, I've contacted 30 journalists, but not one of them will talk to me.
19:38Why do you think that is?
19:40I think it's a mixture of shame, fear.
19:46I think they've probably been ordered not to.
19:49Really?
19:51By their editors.
19:53Hmm.
19:54So, what I want to know is, who would be responsible for the picture of Carrie's blood going in the Sun newspaper?
20:01I've been in newsrooms and they've rang up and said, how much will you give me for this picture or this story?
20:07So, in my experience, the news editor will say, how much do you want?
20:12He will then go into the editor and his senior journalist.
20:16So, that's really gone up to a very senior level.
20:19Usually, it comes in your conference because you have conference every morning and that's what your front page is going to be.
20:23Yeah, that's what I thought.
20:25From experience, that would have gone through three lawyers.
20:29It would go through lawyers.
20:30It would go through three lawyers, the editor, the news editor, conference, where you have plenty of very intelligent journalists who are very able to speak for themselves in all newspapers, debating whether or not they should use it.
20:43In my experience, that decision would have been backed and probably salivated on all day as soon as they got that picture by everybody in that newsroom.
20:52It was gory, it was macabre, it was sinister.
20:56You know, she was deranged.
20:58She wasn't, right?
20:59But they don't think that way.
21:01They think this is such a compelling, is the way they see that, and graphic, gory demise.
21:09If they'd gone through all those checks with their lawyers, they didn't confirm with anybody that it was her boyfriend's blood, which it was portrayed as.
21:23Her agent didn't get a call, you didn't get a call.
21:25Nobody got a call, no.
21:26Quite often, when a story is so good, if there's any chance at all you could say something that could even have brought that story down 10%.
21:37Less drama and less shock factor, and you've got just enough that it can be true, in my opinion, they'd be like, don't call, because that would get in the way of the story.
21:50This is, I can't even get this, I can't even, it's, it's even worse than I thought.
21:57How do you look at that?
21:59You're a journalist.
22:00Yeah.
22:00So, where does the journalism come in, and the interest of Caroline, or the readers? What does the truth matter?
22:11It does to some journalists, and it should do to every journalist, but in my experience, it's really just about who's got the best front page the next day.
22:20So, do you think there was ever a discussion, what effect it would have on her?
22:29In my view, being honest with you, probably not.
22:38And I doubt anyone said, is this the right thing to do?
22:42Really?
22:43You'll never be judged on a story that ruins somebody's life.
22:46You will never pay a price for that.
22:48So, all the times, all the interviews, all the things that, you know, go on with the press, like, on a personal level, it just means nothing.
22:59It, it was like she was betrayed on every part.
23:04Why take the photo?
23:06Why sell it?
23:08Why print it?
23:09Everything that happened like that was making it more and more clear there was no way out of it.
23:15Because we couldn't stop the effect it was having on Carrie, and that's what was hard for us.
23:21Yes, we're back, and we're bigger than ever.
23:44Say hello to Laura Whitmore.
23:46Love Island was a massive thing for Caroline.
23:49Hello Island, Mary.
23:51Laura, taking over, brought up every single insecurity.
23:57We weren't allowed to watch it, then she wanted to watch it, so we'd sit and watch it together.
24:01This is incredible. Look at this. Look at the view.
24:04And then every day she'd ask me for the numbers, how many viewers, how many viewers.
24:07Shall we have a little chat? Shall we?
24:09That constant turmoil killed Caroline.
24:20So girls, how are you feeling?
24:21Good.
24:22She felt like she was being airbrushed out of the show.
24:25She said, I know that I'm gone, I know that I'm done, this is it.
24:28She just saw the crumbling of everything she'd built.
24:31She couldn't go back to her house.
24:48You know, the place that she'd lived and bought with her own money.
24:51There were people kind of camped outside.
24:54So we decided that she needed to move.
25:04Everything was so, like, cloak and dagger because the fear of being caught or people knowing where she was was so scary that all of this had to happen in the middle of the night.
25:15She had to move out at three o'clock in the morning, but luckily Jodie knew of a removal company that would do that, and they were lovely.
25:24They moved almost everything she owned into, like, a gated apartment that actually nobody ever found out where she was.
25:32I think that gave her a sense of normality.
25:36Maybe we'll just pop out and buy some sheets and stuff on Church Street or just buy some, like, nice little things.
25:41It's a little cosy.
25:43But this flat was just, there was something about it.
25:48It was number 13, and opposite her was this park, which was sort of a cemetery.
25:55And one of the headstones was Caroline Flack.
26:00Things like that would play on Carrie's mind.
26:03She phoned me and said about it, and I said, oh, Carrie, don't be, you know, just don't.
26:09There's nothing like that, but it was strange.
26:13When she realised that nobody knew where she was, she started going out for walks with Ruby the dog.
26:28She wasn't drinking at this point.
26:29I'm on Church Street now.
26:31I'm just, um, taking Ruby for a walk.
26:33Text me.
26:33I can meet you at home.
26:34Can we go for a nice dinner somewhere or a soft drink?
26:37Jesus, I'm so boring.
26:39What I wouldn't do for glass of wine?
26:40We went rock climbing, and we had the most amazing evening.
26:47Nobody came up to us.
26:48Nobody spoke to us.
26:50She said to me, I'm going to be okay.
26:51I could tell that she was getting stronger because she was talking about doing a documentary.
27:09She was saying, I just really want to get out, like, what's happened on my side of everything.
27:13And so it felt like she was turning a corner.
27:22And, you know, we felt that, actually, the case was going to be dropped.
27:26She was hoping and pinning everything on common sense finally prevailing and coming to light.
27:34Caroline and her legal team were hoping that the CPS would review all the evidence and conclude there was no public interest and drop the case.
27:45In this case, yes, the complainant withdrew his support for the prosecution, but undoubtedly they felt they had enough.
27:55They had, I think, a 999 call recording.
27:57They had a body-worn camera, a warm-weather police, and they have to take domestic abuse seriously because we as a country have said we should take domestic abuse seriously.
28:06Nazir Afzal is a former chief prosecutor who defended the CPS's decision to prosecute Caroline.
28:12I've given him access to the documents from my investigation.
28:19If he still believes the CPS were doing the right thing.
28:24You did an interview believing that the CPS were right to charge.
28:31Yeah.
28:32And I just wondered, now, having looked more at the case, why you think they were right to charge.
28:39So, I need to explain how a prosecutor does his work.
28:41A prosecutor doesn't do their work in isolation.
28:44It relies upon what the police provide them with.
28:47So, if the police tell them serious injury, blood is everywhere, and we are really concerned that it might be repeated,
28:56I can see how a prosecutor might come to a conclusion that we need to put this before a court.
29:02You have to accept the police are telling you the truth.
29:04Otherwise, the whole system collapses, isn't it?
29:07That said, having looked at all your evidence, I can't understand why they rushed to judgment.
29:14This was a case where there's no previous history, where there is no controlling or coercive, powerful dynamic.
29:21Mr. Burton never, ever wanted this case.
29:25It was adamant this case should not be prosecuted.
29:27It wasn't just reluctant, adamant.
29:29This was a one-off situation where she lost her temper, whatever the reason was,
29:35and she did what she did, which she accepts.
29:38For all of those reasons, the very worst thing that should have happened is a caution.
29:42Um, yeah, it's difficult.
29:52After, you know, hearing you say that, in one way, it's like...
29:58Vindication?
29:59It is.
30:00It's vindication for all the work I've done.
30:02Yeah.
30:03But it actually makes it a lot harder.
30:05I totally understand it.
30:07I have prosecuted thousands of these cases.
30:10Knowing what I know now, none of it makes sense, Christine.
30:14Absolutely none of it makes sense.
30:16You know, almost immediately, in the cold light of day,
30:20prosecutors looking at this case would have formed the view this case is going nowhere.
30:25And they should have stopped the case.
30:27In fact, they're required to stop the case,
30:31where there is insufficient evidence, where it's not in the public interest to proceed.
30:35And I can't think of any reason to proceed,
30:38other than being scared of what the media were going to say about them.
30:42But, you know, it's not about you losing face.
30:46This is about justice.
30:48My take on it is that Caroline would still be with us
30:51if certain decisions weren't taken back in that month or two.
30:56I'll just let her have the coffee.
31:12How do I do it?
31:13I had to do it on that.
31:15No, you just do this and you go.
31:17I see.
31:17I'm just waiting for the call today
31:20and then explain what it is.
31:23So you talk about it
31:26and you have to explain what it is for.
31:29Well, today is the cutoff point.
31:31That's what we're waiting for.
31:33What's the cutoff of what?
31:34Find out whether it's going to court or not.
31:37Oh, right.
31:38It was such a shock that they didn't just drop the case.
32:00This case was prosecuted because, in my view,
32:04it would have been more difficult to stop the snowball rolling
32:09than it would be to just let it continue.
32:14Saving face, I think, adequately describes
32:17the stance that I think was taken.
32:23Because she had pleaded not guilty,
32:25it meant she would face trial.
32:27And the police footage that was filmed that night
32:30would be played in court as evidence.
32:34Throughout this whole thing, Caroline's worst nightmare
32:43was that the body cam footage was going to be released.
32:45It wasn't because she was scared of what she'd done to Lewis.
32:49She was scared because she looks completely and utterly unhinged
32:54in this body cam footage because she had tried to kill herself.
32:59This was a snapshot into her private life at its worst.
33:03She was covered in blood.
33:04She was half-naked.
33:07She was in a really dark place.
33:09It showed her mental health, if you like.
33:14She knew it wasn't going to make her guilty of abuse,
33:17but it was going to show her to the outside world
33:22how she sometimes felt.
33:25But she kept saying to me,
33:29I just can't have people see the body cam footage.
33:33I can't have my family know that that's out there.
33:36And I just think she was not thinking of herself.
33:40I think she was thinking of other people, actually.
33:42Valentine's Day, happy Valentine's Day to everyone out there,
33:55whether you're attached or single or whatever.
33:57Caroline didn't like Valentine's Day.
34:00She hated it, in fact,
34:02because usually that's when she'd just broken up
34:04or something was happening or, you know...
34:06It wasn't a big thing.
34:09She'd already been through so much,
34:11then the Sun devoted an article to a Valentine's card
34:14which had gone on sale mocking Caroline.
34:20A lie about the lamp that was brought out in court
34:23by the prosecutor had been turned into a joke
34:26which the Sun had chosen to reprint,
34:29sharing it to an even wider audience.
34:32It's not journalism, it's bullying.
34:34And it was like another nail in Carrie's coffin, really.
34:40That day, I went to work and I just remember thinking,
34:43she's strong, she's being really strong
34:44and she's saying all the right things.
34:46And then I just didn't hear from her.
34:51Her mum messaged me saying,
34:52have you heard from her?
34:53And I was like, no.
34:54And then she started messaging me, like,
34:56it was one after the other after the other.
34:58Like, it didn't make any sense, it was nonsense.
35:00And I knew that it wasn't, I knew she'd been drinking
35:03and I knew I could get in to the flat.
35:08So I called a friend, I messaged her sister and her mum
35:13and I said, I'm going to go there, there's something weird.
35:16I met my friend outside, we let ourselves in
35:18and the flat was trashed.
35:19It was, the plant had been pulled off the shelves,
35:24the telly was broken, there's stuff everywhere.
35:27We couldn't rouse her at all.
35:31We were really scared to call an ambulance.
35:34We were more scared of her going to hospital
35:39in a public environment because of what the press would do
35:43and getting her life saved, it makes me feel sick
35:47that I thought that was our thought process.
35:50We called an ambulance and I just know that the paramedics came
35:57and she was talking gibberish and I was begging them to take her
36:01and they were saying, she doesn't want to go
36:03and I was like, but she's saying that she's on the streets of India.
36:07But in the end, they didn't take her.
36:09When she woke up, she was furious that we'd called the paramedics
36:17and she said to me, you will never, ever know what it's like to be me.
36:24I am in so much pain.
36:27And she just was, it was like she was speaking,
36:30but she wasn't there.
36:33She wasn't, she wasn't there.
36:37I am.
36:45On the morning, they were there, her friends were there,
36:50but Carrie had said, oh, you can leave, you can leave.
36:53And she said, Jodie will be here soon.
36:57We left at about ten.
37:07When her sister and two others got to Carrie's, the door was locked.
37:14Well, Carrie never does, she just doesn't, you know,
37:17the door would be open and everything would be,
37:19and she just knew there was something wrong.
37:22They could hear Ruby barking from the inside,
37:24and I was saying she would never leave Ruby if she's gone out.
37:27I was like, she'll be there, she'll be asleep.
37:29The landlord had come.
37:32And they got in, and, yeah, Jodie found her.
37:36And, yeah, she couldn't do anything.
37:38She tried, but she couldn't do anything.
37:40So she phoned me.
37:44And then when I got there,
37:46there was people milling about outside,
37:48and I went into the room.
37:51I went to touch her, and the police wouldn't let me.
37:53I got there, and she was dead.
38:03Um, everybody was quiet.
38:05It was really quiet.
38:10Ruby was just walking around in the flat.
38:16I just, I didn't understand, like, what was going on.
38:23Somebody called me, and I answered the phone.
38:26He said, hi, my name's da-da-da.
38:27I'm the head of something at BBC.
38:29Is it true that Caroline Flack's dead?
38:31And I just couldn't, I, like, threw my phone.
38:33I remember being like, oh, my God.
38:35I couldn't believe that I was standing with her body,
38:39and that somebody was calling me to fact-check
38:42that she was dead.
38:44Good evening. Welcome to BBC News.
38:46Caroline Flack, the former ITV Love Island host,
38:49has been found dead in her London flat.
38:52A lawyer for her family confirmed she had taken her own life.
38:55This is very shocking news, of course.
38:57There have been lots of questions this evening
38:59about what has happened here.
39:01The feeling of how bad she must have felt to do what she did,
39:21that's the thing that stays with me.
39:24She was just in a place where she saw no way out,
39:28and that must be awful.
39:32She couldn't see that it would have all been fine.
39:35They would have got through this,
39:37and I just can't imagine it.
39:39She had served her sentence by then,
39:46more than anyone could imagine,
39:48and she had nothing left.
39:55It's so weird that she's not here,
39:59and it doesn't feel real, and it's never felt real,
40:02and I'd continue to message her as if she's here.
40:17Anyone who knew Caroline knew she was vivacious,
40:21loving, and had a passion for life.
40:23There was an outpouring of emotion on social media.
40:30Lewis Burton shared a photo of them together on Instagram
40:33with a message that said,
40:35My heart is broken.
40:36We had something so special.
40:38I am so lost for words.
40:40I am in so much pain.
40:41After her death,
41:01people were still going for her.
41:04It was disgusting.
41:06It's all the same lies being spread about her.
41:08I do remember moments after she had died,
41:15I got a phone call from an editor saying,
41:18Shut down.
41:20Don't talk about it.
41:21Don't mention anything about Caroline's death.
41:24Any articles you've written,
41:26any articles we've written,
41:28it's complete shutdown.
41:31The only other time
41:32that I've ever been ordered by
41:35anyone in a position of power and influence in a newspaper
41:41to not talk about anything
41:43was
41:44when the mirror phone hacking was exposed
41:47and we were told,
41:49Don't speak a word to anyone.
41:51Don't answer any questions.
41:53We were talking about
41:54what probably the biggest court trial
41:58in press, British press history
41:59with the Royal
42:00and Caroline Flax
42:03death.
42:11It wasn't that long after Caroline had died,
42:14I met Rebecca Brooks,
42:15head of the Sun newspaper group.
42:18And she said,
42:19Oh,
42:20everybody was crying in the newsroom
42:22when they heard.
42:23And they said we could give an award in her name.
42:26They have an awards night every year.
42:27And we were given an award in Caroline's name.
42:31It's time now to present the Mental Health Award.
42:34And to do so,
42:35someone who's experienced firsthand
42:38how devastating it can be
42:39when someone's mental health deteriorates.
42:42Christine Flack.
42:44Of course, I thought,
42:44Oh, fabulous.
42:45You know,
42:46you're not even thinking.
42:48The winner of the Mental Health Award
42:50in memory of my daughter Carrie
42:51is Charmaine George.
42:53And I'd just like to say
42:55how she did what she did.
42:59Because it's some,
43:00some mornings it's just hard to get up
43:02and carry on.
43:04But to do what she did
43:05is wonderful.
43:07And she deserves this.
43:09The award was given to a very nice lady
43:11that had lost her son
43:13and helped other people.
43:14And everyone there was like
43:19someone famous
43:21and there was footballers,
43:23there was David Beckett.
43:24It was a place to be,
43:25to be seen.
43:28And I think,
43:28what am I doing with that?
43:30I'm not the celebrity.
43:32It's Caroline.
43:33And they took that from her.
43:35I felt really guilty
43:41that I'd gone along with it.
43:44And you think,
43:45Oh,
43:45why did I get involved?
43:47But sometimes you have to get involved
43:48to get that realisation
43:50that you're being played.
43:53That's what it felt like they were doing.
43:57In my opinion,
43:58they're doing it so that you don't complain.
44:01They're doing it just so it looked like
44:03they had my blessing.
44:05I don't believe it's because they're sorry,
44:08but it's how can we make this problem go away?
44:13To paparazzi and tabloids
44:14looking for a cheap sell,
44:16to trials hiding behind a keyboard,
44:19enough.
44:20Your words affect people.
44:22It was the media amplifying
44:23what social media was doing.
44:25It was both strands.
44:26I don't think they understand
44:28the impact that it has
44:31on somebody's mental health.
44:33You have to stand together.
44:34Her death cannot be in vain.
44:36when caroline died her close friends just wanted some way to you know remember her
45:02and they thought about what was the thing caroline loved most she loved music she loved dancing she
45:11loved singing they put on flat stock and everybody that appears or even comes on stage to talk about
45:23knew her and i didn't know she knew so many people it affected a lot of people's lives
45:31all the money we we raise goes to charities at flat stock everything is positive remembering
45:46caroline and what she stood for she was trying her best and she was making the success of her life
45:54despite all of her demons
45:56it's just a way that we can talk about carrie i just dance
46:04caroline was the most generous and loving daughter sister and auntie
46:14losing her was unbearable but no one should have to go through what caroline went through
46:22and i've spent five years fighting to uncover the truth about what happened
46:26but what i want to stress to anyone feeling that bad
46:32that scared and tired of life there's always a way forward
46:39you're not you're not strange if you have depression you're not strange if you've got mental health
46:48problems you're normal that's that's life and it's just helping deal with that and making you feel
46:55okay about it because that's you know you should you should just feel okay about it
47:00perhaps that's a lesson you know it's a lesson
47:05and that's that's the legacy
47:11she was about life so sit back i just fell down a hole
47:22soz
47:24she was about enjoying life
47:27helping others to enjoy life
47:39we've had a lovely time
47:43it is corny when we say oh be kind
47:48but you know that's that's a small phrase but it means such
47:52such a lot and um if people lived by that
47:57then the world would be much nicer
48:00sometimes i'm right
48:16sometimes i'm wrong
48:18but he doesn't care
48:21he'll string along
48:23he loves me so
48:26that funny honey of mine
48:30sometimes i'm down
48:36sometimes i'm up
48:38but he follows round like some droopy eyed pop
48:43he loves me so
48:46that funny honey of mine
48:49i look at the end
48:56i love it
48:57next time
48:59my
49:04my
49:06my
49:08my
49:10my
49:11my
49:1214
49:1410
49:1514
49:1615
49:1715
49:1815
49:1915
49:2115
49:2215
49:2315
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