Cryptic cry for help a mother found too late
Tragic teen left final note that said ‘I’m fine’ but upside down it read ‘Help me’
THE mother of a 16-year- old girl found a cryptic cry-for-help note in the teenager’s bedroom after she disappeared and was later found dead.
Helen Cousin said the family discovered the message – which said ‘I’m fine’ read one way and ‘help me’ when turned upside down – after Maisie Cousin-Stirk’s body was discovered in woods near her home.
Miss Cousin, 46, said she had no idea her daughter was depressed, but now believes she took her own life. The teaching assistant said: ‘I never thought she would do this. We were very close and she was always by my side.
‘I had no idea she was hiding these feelings and I hope I can just help other teenagers now to speak to someone before it is too late.’
Miss Cousin, Maisie and her younger brother Oliver, 12, had been planning a family holiday together to Crete in the days before the teenager’s death. But Maisie, who was deciding whether to go to college and complete a childcare course or go to sixth form to do her Alevels, died six weeks ago, just days after completing her GCSE exams.
It was the day of her school leavers’ assembly, but she had decided not to go. Miss Cousin said: ‘ Normally I would have a chat with her before work, but I thought she’d want to lie in on her first day off. Just before I left, she shouted out to me and I said a quick goodbye.’
Maisie was expected to get A*s, As and Bs in her exams. On June 19, she spent the morning with her sister Amy, 27, and her nephew Joel, three, and niece Scarlett, nine months. Miss Cousin said: ‘She loved her nieces and nephews and they couldn’t wait to spend time with her.
‘Her older brother Luke, 24, also has a little girl called Esme, one. It breaks my heart that there are three little people who won’t have auntie Maisie any more.’
Her mother last saw her at around 3pm that afternoon, heading home from her walk across the fields around the
‘No idea she was feeling so bad’
Mother: Helen Cousin primary school where she works, just behind their family house in Misterton, Nottinghamshire.
But when she got home at 5.30pm, she realised Maisie was not there and assumed she was still with her sister. Miss Cousin, who is no longer with Maisie’s father, Mick Stirk, 51, said: ‘She was a 16year- old so she was used to doing her own thing. I just thought she was spending time with her niece and nephew, or maybe she was at her dad’s.’ But she later realised she was not and called police. Within an hour of her posting an alert on Facebook, locals formed a search party, scouring fields and streets.
Sadly, at around 5am, Amy’s partner Liam Hunter, 24, was on the phone to Miss Cousin when he discovered Maisie’s body in a lane just a few minutes from their house.
Miss Cousin said: ‘ I just screamed and screamed. I couldn’t believe this had happened to us. I had no idea that Maisie was feeling so bad that she felt she had to do this. I don’t know why and I don’t think I ever will.’
The next day, the schoolgirl’s mother and father travelled to Nottingham to identify their daughter’s body. Meanwhile her sister was in Maisie’s bedroom when she found the hidden ‘help me’ message on top of a set of drawers. Miss Cousin said: ‘I couldn’t stop thinking about the note. There are kids out there, like Maisie, who don’t talk about their problems or seem to be upset. This summed it up for me.’
An inquest into Maisie’s death has been opened and adjourned. The family have since made pin badges with the cryptic message on, which they have shared to raise awareness.
They are also raising money to create a sensory garden at the primary school where Miss Cousin works.
Funds will also go to suicide prevention charity Papyrus.
Miss Cousin added: ‘Maisie was a fantastic daughter. I have so many unanswered questions but now I want to raise money and awareness so maybe I can stop another family having to go through this.’
For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or go to www.samaritans.org