Natasha Abrahart suicide: Mother trusted university over mental health

The mother of a student who took her own life said she put her trust in the university to help, a court has heard.

Natasha Abrahart, 20, was a second year physics student at the University of Bristol and died in April 2018.

Her family is now taking civil action against the university on the grounds it owed her a duty of care and neglected her social anxiety disorder.

Bristol County Court heard she had made previous suicide attempts and staff were aware she was struggling.

Opening the case, Jamie Burton QC said Miss Abrahart was "conscientious, bright and diligent" but had suffered from a "debilitating social anxiety from a young age".

He said she would often "shut down when the centre of attention" and rarely spoke in class.

Mr Burton said her anxiety "spiked" at university and she struggled with a module that required her to take part in a series of laboratory interviews and oral assessments.

He said the Abrahart family, from West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, have accused the university of failing to make adjustments for their daughter in her course to help her cope with speaking in front of a group.

They also say she was neglected and a victim of indirect discrimination as a disabled student.

The court heard Miss Abrahart, who was diagnosed with chronic social anxiety, failed to attend several lab interviews, and when she did she "performed poorly".

Mr Burton said the student was found dead in her flat on the same day she was due to give a presentation to fellow students and staff in a 329-seat lecture theatre.

"She found assessments too terrifying to face," he said.

"The assessment of a student's ability to explain the lab work orally and to answer questions was a competency standard, and put Natasha at a considerable disadvantage, in comparison with students who did not share her disability."

He said Barbara Perks, a student administrator, had discussed with Miss Abrahart the idea of preparing written answers to questions in advance and suggested she did not have to speak in the group presentation if she could show her contribution to the work.

Giving evidence, Margaret Abrahart, said her daughter did not talk about using the university's counselling service and never complained to her about elements of the course.

She said she was not aware of her daughter's suicide attempts until she was informed by one of her friends.

"She [Natasha] found it very difficult to talk about personal things," said Mrs Abrahart.

"There's a lot of things people don't tell their parents.

"I knew something was upsetting her, but I didn't know what it was, and made the very difficult decision that I needed to trust other people who were helping her."

The court heard Miss Abrahart wrote herself notes and letters "expressing extreme despair over her level of shyness" as well as thoughts about her social circles and future.

Rajan Palan, a friend of Miss Abrahart, said he had become "exhausted" trying to help her and the university was aware of some of her suicide attempts.

He said he was "relieved" when Miss Abrahart contacted Ms Perks with details of her issues.

Paul Stagg, representing the university, asked: "You felt they were going to take some responsibility for helping her? Did they, in your view, help her?"

"I believe there were meetings with doctors," replied Mr Palan. "But it was not clear what good it did.

"It wasn't clear to me what the university or anybody could have done in this case.

"All of her problems derived from her anxiety and that affected her studies. I would have hoped that she would have got help."

The case continues.

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this story, you can visit the BBC's Action Line.

Call Samaritans free on 116 123, email [email protected], or visit www.samaritans.org.

Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].