Friends of a British journalist found dead in airport say she was "anything but suicidal."

Friends believe Jacky Sutton was “anything but suicidal”.

Friends of British journalist Jacky Sutton – who reportedly killed herself after missing a flight and being told she would have to pay for a new one – are calling for an international investigation, saying she would never commit suicide.

The 50-year-old former BBC producer and acting director for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting was found dead in a toilet cubicle at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport in the early hours of Sunday morning, The Mirror reports.

Airport staff reportedly say Ms Sutton appeared distressed after missing her flight to Erbil, Iraq, and being told she had to pay for another ticket.

But distraught friends and associates of Ms Sutton say she was a tough and experienced traveller who would never have killed herself.

They say the former United Nations worker feared she could become a target for Islamic State terrorists and was more likely to have been murdered.

The Mirror reports her friend, Amanda Whitely, posted emails from Ms Sutton, one of which described one of her stays in low-key accommodation in Iraq.

“So if someone came in uninvited I was trapped and, as my Kurdish friends said, ‘It just needs one whacko to hear in the Friday prayers that killing foreigners is jihad, and they’ll come knocking at your door in a heartbeat,” she wrote.

“Erbil has grown but everyone knows where the foreigners are staying.”

She said she was moving into a gated community with some friends.

“If Daesh (ISIS) wants to attack they will but it will take planning and I won’t be THE target; if the whacko wants to get to heaven he or she will have to contend with armed guards and a choice of targets, and the same with criminal kidnappers,” she wrote.

Ms Sutton’s boss, Anthony Borden of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, told The Mirror she would not have been worried about paying for another flight. “For want of couple hundred quid of plane ticket? There’s all manner of ways to cover that,” he said. “The idea of her taking her own life is frankly, it doesn’t match. “We’re not in a position to make any accusations just yet. “We hope the Turkish authorities will investigate. We hope British government will insist an investigation takes place.”

If this post brings up issues for you or you just need someone to talk to, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14.