Mum of Wikileaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning drowned in bath while ‘heavily intoxicated’
WIKILEAKS whistleblower Chelsea Manning's mum drowned in the bath after drinking alcohol, an inquest heard.
Susan Manning, 65, was found dead at home in Pembrokeshire, Wales in January after she was submerged in the water while "heavily intoxicated".
Her daughter Chelsea missed her mum's funeral because she was being held in a US detention centre at the time.
Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea, 33, was being held for contempt between March 2019 and March this year.
She had refused to testify before a grand jury investigating Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
An inquest heard Susan returned to Wales after a marriage breakdown to American soldier Brian Manning.
She suffered a stroke in 2007 that left her unable to travel to see her two children in the US.
The inquest heard Susan was sociable and well-liked by friends but lived a solitary life and "was drinking alcohol to an unknown excess".
Her sister Sharon Staples spoke to her on the phone on January 9 and could tell she was drunk - "which was not unusual".
She tried to convince her not to have a bath but the next day no one could make contact with her.
Brother-in-law Joe Staples went to the house with a key but could not get in.
He called police and officers later discovered her body.
A toxicology report found she had 330mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood - the driving limit is 80mg.
The inquest in Haverfordwest heard the alcohol made a "significant contribution to her death".
Coroner Paul Bennett concluded Susan's death was accidental after she "drowned in the bath while heavily intoxicated".
WIKILEAKS WHISTLEBLOWER
Daughter Chelsea was jailed between 2010 and 2017 after passing a huge cache of classified documents to WikiLeaks.
Manning first made contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in January 2010 - but the pair have never met.
The whistleblower leaked more than 700,000 classified documents related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This included 251,287 diplomatic cables from foreign embassies and 482,232 Army reports.
In 2013, her court-martial began and she was imprisoned after eventually being found guilty on 20 counts.
This included violations of the Espionage Act, but she was acquitted of aiding the enemy - a charge which can result in the death penalty.
A military judge sentenced her to 35 years' prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.
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In January 2017, however, President Obama announced Manning would have her sentence commuted, and she was released from prison in May that same year.
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In early 2019 she was back behind bars serving an indefinite sentence.
A federal judge caged her for refusing to testify to a grand jury, and she was released earlier this year.
