Teenager leaps to her death from car park after being systematically and horrendously bullied Nov 20, 2014 08:43 By Lauren Brown As Lauren Johnson, 17, perched on the edge she told a cop : I have done talking, I have nothing left to talk about before allowing herself to fall backwards CavendishTragic: Lauren fell 60 feet from the car park at the Accrington Arndale shopping centre A teenager leapt to her death from a multi-storey car park after suffering from anxiety feared to have been sparked by secret bullying at school. Lauren Johnson, 17, is thought to have bottled up her torment from being teased and later developed a personality disorder. A Level student Lauren is believed to have been bullied by fellow pupils at the age of 14. Whilst harbouring ambitions to become a clinical psychologist or vet Lauren developed insecurities about being admitted to a psychiatric unit to and would self harm claiming she was being judged negatively by others. Last June Lauren was due to attend a local hospital for an interview for a work experience ahead of applying to university but instead walked to the top of the six storey car park at the Accrington Arndale shopping centre in Accrington, Lancashire. A policeman tried to talk Lauren down but she replied: I have done talking, I have nothing left to talk about before allowing herself to fall backwards over the edge of the building. The teenager - described as intelligent and articulate - suffered fatal head injuries and was pronounced dead at Royal Blackburn Hospital. Today after a coroner recorded a suicide verdict Laurens mother Dawn said: The bullying was a significant factor in Laurens mental illness - prior to that she had a normal childhood normal upbringing. The experts said she was systematically and horrendously abused by bullying but she internalised it. Student: Lauren attended Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School In my view without the bullying she would not have developed mental health issues and she would not have died. The therapist said the bullying was systematic but we could never get to the bottom of it. There was no report from school because they didnt know anything about her troubles because she just absorbed it and took it on the chin rather fire back at anyone. She maybe took that torment on herself until the point came when she became really unwell with it. The bullying had stopped by that time but the damage was already done. We tried to talk to her about what happened but it was too painful for her. The hearing was told Lauren from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, attended Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School and was studying Maths, chemistry human biology, and psychology at A Level. But she began displaying mental health issues in 2011 and although it was initially thought to be social anxiety she was later diagnosed with psychosis-like personality disorder and she finally told her mother Dawn about her bullying ordeal. She was subsequently seen by doctors and prescribed medication but the inquest was Lauren just wanted to be normal and didnt want to be reminded that she was unwell. CavendishMental health: Lauren was battling a severe anxiety illness when she died Police had to be called out when she was found standing near railway bridges and viaducts and on another occasion she cut herself with a craft knife in a public toilet. Her mother a mental health nurse for 20 years told the Accrington hearing: I always had a gut feeling that one day she wouldnt be with us. Ive waited for that phonecall or knock on the door, there have been so many crisis, I knew I would get a knock on the door. I kind of saw it that if she did not get the help she needed, one day that would be inevitable. It is very difficult to cure a mental health problem and Lauren kept a lot to herself and tried to manage it very much herself. Because she tried to manage it herself she ended up in crisis a lot of time when she wanted to kill herself. Sometimes she lacked insight into how low her mood was. She was very intelligent. She read up on things, she knew how many tablets and what kind for an overdose. It wasnt a handful - she took a significant amount to cause her harm or kill herself. It was only by default that I would find out. Lauren was good at masking things and would try and mask her symptoms so people would think she was okay. I did air my concerns and said I found it hard to judge that risk. It was really inconsistent. Her behaviour had become erratic. She would try and mask it and put make-up on and present as very cheery. Mrs Johnson said she last spoke to her daughter on the evening before the death as she went to meet a friend. The following morning she sent the teenager a good luck message before she set off for her interview at Burnley General Hospital for a volunteer on the mental health and childrens ward. Jeff MorrisDeath: She died at the Royal Blackburn Hospital Lauren replied saying thanks mum but did not respond tom further texts. Police were called to the shopping mall after reports Lauren was stood at the top of the building. PC Graham Walsh told the inquest he found her standing in a far corner of the car park. He said: She said, I have done talking, I have nothing left to talk about, the only reason I have not jumped is that its not high enough and I have concerns that it wont kill me. She looked at me and allowed herself to fall backwards into the service yard. She wouldnt let me come to her. It was impossible to try and grab her. A note entitled Suicide Letter was later found on Laurens her laptop in her My Documents which had been written two days earlier with a document recovered from the recycling bin that read, if found dead you are probably looking for this. Mental health nurse Carla Nightingale told the inquest Lauren on the day of the teenagers death she had several missed calls on her work mobile from Lauren. Coroner Michael Singleton said: Lauren was a very intelligent and clearly articulate young lady, a young lady who had a personality disorder which seemed to have various diagnosis at various times. Clearly Laurens mother, working in mental health had some insight into problems and appropriate help was sought at an early stage. It seems to me that the nature of Laurens mental health and her intelligence and insight into it always meant it was always going to be a very difficult situation to manage.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 21:34:07 +0000
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