A grieving father whose daughter took her own life has blamed River Island for her plummeting mental health – after the way she was treated following a workplace injury.
Katie French, who worked as a window dresser at the fashion firm, felt let down by staff after suffering a prolapsed disc through lifting heavy items at work, her family claims.
Three years after leaving the firm in 2018, the 35-year-old took her own life at her parent’s house in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, having fallen into a ‘very dark place’.
Her heartbroken father Peter French, 73, is fighting for answers after an inquest into her suicide failed to make any findings of culpability against River Island.
The father told MailOnline: ‘She was in such a bad place she couldn’t cope.
‘She kept saying “I used to hate it when trains were held up because someone was a jumper, it’s very selfish, but I’m now that jumper”.
‘I brought her into this world and I was the last one to see her.’
Mr French claimed Katie was asked to work in a dismal warehouse in Oxford, despite her giving more than a decade of hard work and dedication to the firm.
Peter French, 73, (left) has blamed River Island after claiming a workplace injury prompted Katie French (right) to spiral into depression
Katie (pictured with her rescue dog Minnie) took her own life at her parents’ house in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, having fallen into a ‘very dark place’
Mr French is pictured with the ashes of his daughter Katie and her beloved rescue dog, Minnie
The father put his branded shirts in a River Island store
The father staged a one-man protest last Thursday demanding a meeting with senior company bosses at offices in Hangar Lane, London, while wearing a shirt bearing a slogan criticising River Island.
He is also threatening to distribute 6,000 of his branded shirts to the firm’s stores across the country.
‘They were just unbelievable,’ he said. ‘At the drop of a hat they’d say you need to do this and you need to do that.
‘Where she was working it […] wasn’t fit for purpose.
‘There was stuff stacked up all over the place.
‘That was when she felt they basically wanted to get rid of her. It made her feel bad so she went off and saw the doctors and they signed her off sick.
‘I think it was the fact that this was her only fulltime job she’d ever had.’
He is appealing to the High Court to challenge an inquest held on December 1, 2021, claiming the Coroner failed to address what he believes is the culpability of the company.
Katie was an animal lover and adored dogs, including her rescue dog Minnie
Mr French claimed Katie was asked to work in a dismal warehouse in Oxford, despite her giving more than a decade of hard work and dedication to the firm
The father claimed his daughter was already in a ‘dark place’ when her relationship broke down and she lost her beloved rescue dog, Minnie.
‘Her partner said I can’t deal with you anymore, he said he’d come home from work and she’d still be in bed. He was a lovely guy, he really was a nice guy. He said I just couldn’t deal with her, I would have lost my job,’ he said.
‘He said she was so difficult to deal with. That was right from the time she finished with River Island.
‘She had jobs in between but she could never get into a job. We had lockdown as well and she found that difficult because she was an outgoing person.
‘She was round our house and our son was helping us put something together, and she had a glass of wine, and she just suddenly threw it and said I can’t take anymore. She said I feel like jumping off a bridge.
‘I was the first one to see her, first one to touch her, and then of course I found her.’
The father claimed his daughter was already in a ‘dark place’ when her relationship broke down and she lost her beloved rescue dog
Katie’s ashes are kept alongside her dog Minnie’s in her childhood bedroom in Stevenage where she died
Mr French said his daughter checked to see if he’d be ok the day before she decided to take her own life.
‘At the time I was building a house for ourselves, and she was doing the designing of bits and pieces for me,’ he said. ‘On the Friday before she took her life on the Saturday, she said “is everything ordered now? You’ll be ok with everything?” And I think she’d made her mind up.
‘She was lovely, an absolutely soft human being. All her friends were like “we can’t believe it, she was the life and soul wine of the party”. She arranged all the holidays, she was a pretty girl, had everything going for her.
‘When she was a youngster she was a fantastic Judo player, she trained with the English squad, she was fit, and she had always done well at school.’
He says Katie had worked all around the world for the firm – including the Middle East and Russia – and was involved in launching Rihanna’s River Island range.
But after suffering a prolapsed disc through lifting heavy items at work, she felt, her father claims, unfairly treated.
Mr French said: ‘Katie gave her heart and soul to River Island. They repaid her years of dedication with […] indifference after she became physically impaired through the heavy lifting required in her job.
‘When she was further injured by being hit in a company car accident, instead of rehabilitating her or redeploying her to another less physical marketing role [she felt that] they isolated her, cutting off her support so she would get the hint and go away.’
Katie’s ashes are kept alongside her dog Minnie’s in her childhood bedroom in Stevenage where she died.
MailOnline contacted River Island for comment. It is understood they have investigated Katie’s grievances and found no evidence to support Mr French’s claims.
– For confidential support call Samaritans on 116123 or visit www.samaritans.org
