Suicide girl had care home 'fantasy' claims mother

Niamh Lafferty, 15, and Georgia Rowe, 14, fell more than 100ft from the Erskine Bridge in October 2009.

At Paisley Sheriff Court, Niamh's mother Collette Bysouth told the inquiry into her daughter's death that Niamh had enjoyed watching TV show Tracy Beaker when she was younger, which was based around a care home.

Ms Bysouth, 41, said: "She had this idea about what being in care would be like, that it would all be food fights and practical jokes like in the programme. It was a bit like a fantasy.

"Niamh also hung around with a lot of people who were in the care system at the time and heard from them about what it was like. She knew what the rules were. She thought you could do anything you liked because the care workers couldn't touch you."

The inquiry was told that Niamh was taken into care on June 19 2008, the day after her 14th birthday. Ms Bysouth said she had assaulted another pupil at Hermitage Academy in Helensburgh, Argyll, which left the other pupil in hospital.

At the time Niamh was living with her father Paul Lafferty. Her grandmother Helen Lafferty had said she could no longer cope with Niamh's behaviour.

Mr Lafferty was said to have struggled with a heroin addiction and had claimed Niamh was "setting him back" and that he would "end up back on the drink and drugs".

The hearing was told that the assault at the school had led Mr Lafferty to think that Niamh was "acting like she was in the Mafia".

Ms Bysouth said: "I wanted Niamh to come home to my house but she refused. She insisted that she be taken into care."

Niamh was then taken to East King Street Centre in Helensburgh.

The inquiry was told that Niamh was later moved to the Good Shepherd Centre, where plans were made to gradually rehabilitate her back into the community.

The eventual aim of the plan was for the teenager to go back to living with her father, but Ms Bysouth said: "I thought it would be in the future, when Paul was able to prove he could look after her.

"We were told a support package would be put in place.

"I wasn't happy but I was satisfied. I believed the move would not happen for a while."

However, Ms Bysouth said she was shocked when the family next attended a hearing of the children's panel, to be told that Niamh was being released into Mr Lafferty's custody on that day, February 19, 2009.

She said: "We were waiting for Niamh to arrive and the news was sprung on us.

"Paul wasn't ready. He tried to tell Adah Lambie, from the social work office, that he needed time, he hadn't finished decorating the hall.

"She told him that if he said that in front of the children's panel then Niamh wouldn't be allowed to come home.

"We were put in a very difficult position. But Niamh was delighted when she found out she was going home with her father.

"She was delivered to his house later that day."

Six days after Niamh was released, her mother went to pick her up from Mr Lafferty's house to attend a looked after children (LAC) review.

Ms Bysouth told the hearing: "She looked awful. She looked like she hadn't washed for days. She normally took a lot of pride in how she looked but she had no make-up on or anything."

Ms Bysouth said Niamh later showed her an incomplete essay she had written about that day for an English project.

She said: "She showed it to me around September that year - about a month before she died. I think she'd written it in the August. I was really impressed with her writing."

In the essay, Niamh said that on the day of the LAC review she had been "in a state" and that she had been "out five nights in a row drinking and taking drugs".

It also said she was "worried about her boyfriend" who was due in court that day to find out if he was to be released from jail.

Niamh also said in the letter, which was read out in court: "I didn't want to tell them that dad was back on drugs and that he had no money for electricity or even for hot water for me to have a shower.

"I didn't want to get dad into trouble for not looking after me properly."

Ms Bysouth said that her daughter later told her that she knew her father was back on drugs because she could smell "fish" coming from the bathroom, and that was what heroin smelled like when it was burning.

Ms Bysouth told the hearing: "I was astounded that she would know something like that."

Niamh's mother told the inquiry that she believed her daughter and Mr Lafferty had been "set up to fail".

She said: "It was inevitable that it was not going to work out at Paul's house. He wasn't ready for her to go and live there."

The hearing continues.