Charley-Ann Patterson: Girl, 12, who killed herself was 'bullied'

A 12-year-old girl who killed herself told a nurse she was being "bullied, pushed out and ignored" four months before she died, an inquest has heard.

Charley-Ann Patterson had said she was being "isolated" online and "couldn't try to reconcile" with her friends because of the Covid lockdown.

She was found dead at her home in Cramlington, Northumberland, on 1 October 2020.

Her parents have called for families to be aware of the dangers of bullying.

Charley attended A&E with her mother, Jay Patterson, on 29 May 2020 over concerns about cuts to her arm, Northumberland Coroner's Court heard.

Advanced paediatric nurse practitioner Rachel Bell said Charley "mentioned bullying and a bit of isolation at school and online".

She told the hearing: "When kids get bullied at school, they often get a bit of relief from it at home. She talked about how that followed her home because we were in the middle of lockdown.

"When [friends] were blocking her out online she couldn't go to them at school to try and reconcile. She was feeling quite isolated.

"She did talk about how she had recently moved schools and there had been a bit of a breakdown of a friendship there, some nasty things may have been said by that student once she left.

"It sounded like she had quite a lot going on from a peer perspective."

Ms Bell told the inquest Charley also spoke about questioning her sexuality, not liking the way she looked and "feeling she needed to punish herself".

She spoke to Charley for around an hour after her attendance at A&E, the court heard, and a referral was made to the psychiatric liaison team, who arrived later that night to talk to her.

Describing the schoolgirl as "really friendly", Ms Bell said: "I knew that there was things going on that needed to be addressed but I wasn't concerned at that point there was a fear for her life.

"We discussed whether that had been her intention at that point and she said it hadn't."

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The inquest also heard from Dr Hannah Hamilton, who saw Charley in June 2019 after she had self-harmed.

Dr Hamilton, who then worked at Collingwood Health Group in North Shields, said she had not referred Charley to secondary mental health services as she had described her mood as "10 out of 10".

The GP said she was told it had been "the first self-harm episode known to the family" and there had been "no further self-harm since".

The inquest continues.

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