Coroner slams Brighton University for not helping student with eating disorder ...

Lucy Spears, 22 (pictured in an undated photo) was studying to be a mental health nurse when she hanged herself

Lucy Spears, 22 (pictured in an undated photo) was studying to be a mental health nurse when she hanged herself

A coroner has slammed Brighton University for not helping a depressed nursing student who was battling an eating disorder before she took her own life.

Lucy Spears, 22, was studying to be a mental health nurse when she hanged herself.

She had been diagnosed with anorexia in October 2017 and an inquest heard she took a drug overdose at 17 and suffered from depression and anxiety.

Miss Spears was also seriously injured when a van knocked her off her bike on March 20 last year, which her father claims added to her mental health problems.

Her body was found hanged in her bedroom by her close friend Kayley Brown on May 9 last year - two days before she was due to meet with university support staff. At her inquest in Crawley, Coroner Penelope Schofield slammed Brighton staff for not providing enough support.

She told the hearing: 'Here we have a student that clearly has mental health issues and there is no proactive engagement from the university whatsoever.

'She was struggling with her anxiety and her work and where is the evidence of support for this vulnerable person?

'University staff have a duty of care to their students and I have seen nothing to prove the support available in this case.'   

Ms Schofield said she was shocked to find Miss Spears was turned away from a meeting at the university to discuss student support.

At that time she had two broken arms and a broken jaw from the cycling accident yet was asked to return with evidence to prove she needed support.

The hearing was told her three-year relationship with her girlfriend also broke down at this point.  

Days after the accident her psychologist Lin Creasey, from East Brighton Mental Health, referred her to a crisis team run by the Sussex Partnership Trust because she had suicidal thoughts.

Brighton University was notified about the crisis team and arranged an appointment with Miss Spears two weeks later, May 11, two days after she killed herself.

Ms Schofield concluded:

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