Mum’s warnings before girl, 18, became youngest to die in jail for 20 years
THE mother of an 18year-old who became the ‘youngest inmate to die at a women’s prison in 20 years’ says she raised concerns about self-harm by her daughter but the jail did not respond.
Angela Gray told the court she ‘remains concerned’ her troubled daughter Annelise Sanderson was imprisoned without receiving mental health treatment.
She was sentenced for lashing out at emergency workers while in a distressed state and trying to drink petrol and set herself on fire. The inquest, which opened yesterday, heard Ms Sanderson, of Runcorn, Cheshire, was jailed for 12 months in June 2020 for assaulting an emergency worker and criminal damage, and for breaching a previous suspended sentence.
The teenager, who had spent time in care, had a history of self-harm, having made a first suicide attempt aged nine.
Ms Gray is being assisted by charity Inquest, which supports families whose loved ones have died in care of the state.
Ms Sanderson was found hanged in her cell in December 2020. She was the youngest prisoner to die at a women’s jail for 20 years, Inquest said.
The organisation added the tragedy was one of 11 selfinflicted deaths at HMP Styal, near Wilmslow, Cheshire, since 2007 – the highest number at any women’s prison.
Ms Gray said she phoned her daughter twice a week, when she ‘often told me she was depressed and wanted to come home’, sounding like a ‘lost soul’. Ms Gray said she telephoned prison staff after Ms Sanderson had told her of two incidents which the mother feared were suicide attempts.
On the first occasion, in July 2020, Ms Gray said: ‘I rang them straight away and demanded she receive medical assistance. I never received an update.’ In a later incident, Ms Sanderson told her mother that she had been stockpiling tablets. Ms Gray begged the jail to search her cell but ‘they told me it would not be possible’.
Ms Sanderson’s mood worsened when she was told she would not be released by Christmas, the inquest heard.
And a serious family matter was said to have come to a head the day she was found dead on December 22.
Ms Gray said: ‘I am and remain concerned that she was sent to prison at all in June 2020 without her receiving any mental health treatment. It was obvious to me that she was really unwell.’
Ms Sanderson was described by family as a ‘tomboy’ and ‘passionate, loving and forgiving’. The inquest continues.
‘It was obvious she was really unwell’