Dad’s grief as he goes to meet girl at station... and finds she’s killed herself
A TEENAGER took her own life after losing her university place and finding herself in debt owing council tax, an inquest heard.
Lara Calthrop was hit by a train four days after Christmas last year after calling her father to say she was walking home from the local station.
He had gone to collect her from Hildenborough, Kent but was met by police officers instead of his 19-year-old daughter.
Miss Calthrop had failed her firstyear English exams at Queen Mary University of London but was still living with her flatmates.
She was unaware she had to pay council tax because she was no longer exempt as a student.
Giving evidence, her mother Deborah said the family was finding it hard to deal with ‘the shock and disbelief ’ that Miss Calthrop had taken her own life but wanted to raise awareness of teenage suicide.
Reading out a statement, she continued: ‘We spoke on a daily basis and are heartbroken that she didn’t open up to us about the difficulties she was facing.
‘For us, those problems were all solvable but a 19-year- old doesn’t always rationalise in the same way that adults do. What Lara taught us, being our first-born child, is that there is such a thing as unconditional love and we would have tried to help her no matter what.’
Shaun Carroll, of British Transport Police, said Miss Calthrop had returned from a night out with friends in Tunbridge Wells. She had been staying with her parents in Hildenborough and working as an administrative assistant.
Mr Carroll said she had rung her father Ben to tell him that she was walking back from the station after being dropped off by a taxi.
After trying to call his daughter but getting no response, he had walked the 33- minute journey to the station to meet her but was greeted by police officers instead.
Since the tragedy, Mrs Calthrop said, the family has been raising funds for Papyrus, the teenage suicide awareness charity, with a sponsored walk in the Brecon Beacons, a run in London and a sponsored cycle ride in Kent.
She added: ‘She [Lara] was the type of person who was a fiercely loyal friend and would always reach out to anyone in need putting their emotional needs before hers. ‘For now, we are missing Lara desperately but want to focus on healing as a family and looking after our other two teenage children who need our support more than ever now and also mean the world to us.’ At the hearing in Maidstone, senior coroner Roger Hatch said that after hearing the evidence ‘he was sadly left with the conclusion that Lara’s death was due to suicide’.
At the time of Miss Calthrop’s death, her family said in a statement: ‘When you read tributes in the press of a young person dying, your heart goes out to that family for their loss never imagining that one day you will have to write a tribute for your 19-year- old daughter who was so loved and who had so much to live for. Lara Calthrop was clever, interesting, kind, always smiling and adored by her family and friends.
‘She has left a gap in our lives, and our family of five will never be the same again and we miss her desperately.
‘She had set off for university life in London to study English literature in September 2016 full of hope for the future.
‘We knew she had become unhappy and disillusioned with her course but never imagined for one second that she would so drastically take away her own life or the extent of her depression.’
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‘We are missing her desperately’ ‘Clever, kind, always smiling’