Police confirmed last night that the promising young chess prodigy who fell to her death last week had a history of self-harm and probably committed suicide.
Jessie Gilbert, 19, who fell from the eighth-floor room of her hotel in Pardubice in the Czech Republic, where she had been taking part in the Czech Open tournament, was understood to have been suffering from depression. Yesterday it emerged that her father, Ian Gilbert, 48, had been charged with seven counts of rape and two of indecent assault. It is thought the charges against him relate to more than one victim.
There were earlier suggestions that Jessie might have fallen to her death early last Wednesday after sleepwalking. But yesterday these were played down by the Czech police, who said they had been told by Jessie's friends that she had harmed herself and possibly attempted suicide in the past.
Inspector David Kakrda told reporters she was alone at the time of her death. 'We can't exclude that she would fall but because of the setting of the room I would say you need a certain energy to climb, [the window] is not level with the floor,' he said.
'We found quite a lot of medication, a lot of vitamins and then things we could not tell what it was until they were examined by medical people and they found they were antidepressants. They were in her name. We think she may have had psychological problems. It could have been an accident. But there are several factors which suggest she probably jumped.
'We are more or less done with the case now and we have given permission for the body to be flown back to England. We are just awaiting the autopsy results and we are checking her mobile phone records to see if there were any phone calls or texts around the time of her death.'
Until recently Jessie had been living with her parents and sister Samantha in the village of Woldingham, Surrey. But her parents had recently divorced, sold their £800,000 house and moved to separate properties. Neighbours are reported to have said the family had been through a 'difficult time'.
Jan Mazuch, director of the Czech Open chess tournament, said he believed Jessie had jumped from the eighth-floor room. He said her 14-year-old room-mate, Amisha Parmar, had first realised Jessie was missing when she awoke to find her bed empty. The two had been on a drinking spree the previous evening, downing vodka, sparkling wine and beer.
Police were called and found the body of the teenager in a tree below her hotel window. 'My daughter noticed nothing strange at all before they went to bed,' said Amisha's father, Krishna. 'Everything appeared absolutely fine. She certainly was not under the impression that Jessie had been sleepwalking and cannot understand what happened. I think it is a real tragedy.'
Amisha's chess coach, David Levens, said she was 'broken-hearted' and was too distressed to continue with the tournament. 'She was her closest friend and she will never see her again,' he said. 'She is in a terrible state. She is far too upset to speak to anyone.'
Jessie, a former pupil of Croydon High School, was taking a gap year to play chess while preparing to go to Oxford to study medicine. She had been working towards becoming a Women's International Master.
Described as one of England's leading women players by the English Chess Federation, she first came to prominence at the age of 12 when she won the Women's World Amateur Championship, the youngest player ever to do so. Having taken up the game at the age of eight, she had been involved in actively coaching and encouraging younger players at the newly formed Andrew Martin Chess Academy.
After representing England in the European Individual Women's Championships in Turkey in April, she had also recently represented the national women's team in the chess Olympiads in Turin in May and June of this year.
In a statement, the federation said: 'Her friendly personality endeared her to all ages in the chess community and she will be much missed.'