Study halted of diary kept by schoolgirl who killed herself

CAMBRIDGE University has abandoned a study of the diaries of an autistic Wycombe Abbey schoolgirl who killed herself after facing a backlash.

The university’s Autism Research Centre had begun a study by Prof Simon Baron-cohen of the diaries of 16-yearold Caitlyn Scott-lee.

The teenager was found in the grounds of £44,000-a-year Wycombe Abbey, Bucks, last April. She had been due to have a two-hour “headmistress’s detention”, her first-ever punishment.

Caitlyn, who was suffering from anxiety and depression and had autism, had become “hyper-fixated” on the punishment imposed after vodka and a tattoo kit were found in her music locker, according to her father, Jonathan Scott-lee.

She had contacted a GP but was deemed to be at a “low risk” of suicide and only offered an appointment the following month.

Prof Baron-cohen had started examining Caitlyn’s diaries, with the support of her family, as part of an effort to further understand why people with autism are at higher risk of suicide. However, after the study was reported by The Sunday Times last month, the university faced criticism from some campaigners who said it was “dehumanising” autistic individuals.

Dan Sohenge, director of Stand for All, a human rights advocacy organisation, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “It’s part of a wider trend of dehumanisation and infantilisation of autistic individuals.”

The decision to stop the study was first reported by Varsity, the student newspaper. A spokesperson for Cambridge University said: “On 28 January, The Sunday Times reported that Cambridge University would be analysing the diaries of Caitlyn Scott-lee, an autistic teenager who sadly died by suicide in 2023.

“The news article generated more public and media interest than Caitlyn’s family were comfortable with. As a result, in the interests of the family’s wellbeing, it has been agreed that this study will no longer go ahead.”

‘The news article generated more interest than Caitlyn’s family were comfortable with’