‘WHY WEREN’T THERE SAFETY MEASURES IN PLACE?’
Frankie was my only child. She was diagnosed with high-functioning autism in 2008, aged five, and although she struggled in social situations, she was intelligent and funny. She was adventurous, too – she loved to climb and enjoyed windsurfing and going on the scary rides at theme parks. To me and my husband, Andy, she was our world. Although Frankie attended a mainstream primary school, we knew she’d struggle with the crowded environment of a secondary school. So, aged 12, in April 2016, she went to a special educational needs school, where we felt confident she’d be well looked after. Frankie had similar interests to any other teenager – she loved the band Green Day, played the bass guitar and dreamed of going to music college. But her disability made her more vulnerable to suggestion, and she could be impulsive at times. That meant we had to be careful about certain things like accessing the internet.
Andy worked in IT, so he made sure that our computers at home in Aldershot were password protected, and Frankie could only go online if she was being supervised by us. She didn’t have her own computer. I also informed the school that she would need to be closely monitored when using the internet.
On September 25, 2018, I picked Frankie, then 15, up from school and brought her back home, like any other day. She seemed happy, taking herself off to play on her swing before going up to her room.
About an hour later,