It started out of nowhere, the young lady needed help

VICTORIA Halliday was reported missing 10 times in three months before her eventual death.

PC James Cross, who heads Leicestershire’s missing persons team, went through the times Vicky, who lived in Broughton Astley, had gone missing.

The first time she was reported missing last year was on April 21 when Hampshire police eventually found her threatening to jump off a bridge in Portsmouth.

The following month she was discovered in the bushes outside a house in Ellistown, near Coalville, and on June 1 she fled the Bradgate Unit and was found near Anstey, preparing to hang herself from the bridge over the A46.

Five days later she was found in a field in Buckinghamshire with cuts on her legs and surrounded by empty alcohol bottles.

Other incidents included threatening to jump off the Haymarket Car Park in Leicester and a leisure complex in Cardiff and two other incidents ended with her being found wandering around confused - once in Leicester and once in Milton Keynes.

During the penultimate incident she texted a friend to say she was on a bus to Sheffield to end her mission and “suffocate” a friend.

She was picked up at Sheffield bus station by local police.

PC Cross said the 10th and final time she was reported missing officers called in the Leicestershire Search and Rescue volunteers and her body was found about 700 metres from her house next to a bag containing sweets, snacks and her diaries.

He said: “It started out of nowhere in 2015 and this was clearly a young lady who needed help and protection.

“At the time she was the most demanding high-risk missing person on our resources.

“We seemed to be going round in circles.”

Victoria’s father Nigel also gave evidence during the third day of the inquest. He described the difficulty he had communicating with Victoria, who often refused to speak.

He said: “She seemed like she was stable sometimes. Vicky wanted help but she didn’t seem to get help from the NHS.

“She said, ‘They don’t understand me’.”

He said she sometimes spoke about her missions.

He said: “She said she was going to Milton Keynes to meet someone but she knew no one there. It was a mission.

“She was saying, ‘I’ve got to get to the end’.

“You didn’t want to ask too much or it could push her over the edge.

“Her face would go blank and she would just switch off.”