On August 26, 2017 my wonderful, clever, intelligent daughter Libby died. She had just turned 16.

In the space of just a couple of years, Libby transformed from a bright, ambitious teenager to a victim of orthorexia, anorexia, and finally anorexia and bulimia combined, which killed her BUT appropriate early intervention and treatment could have prevented her death.

Many families experiencing the devastation of eating disorders would agree that this illness is brilliant at deception and frequently is hidden until it becomes a dangerous, life threatening illness. This disorder is on the increase.

For the last three years since Libby's death I, along with my legal team, have been gathering evidence to prove that Libby did not receive appropriate early specialist support or the appropriate treatment that she needed to prevent her unnecessary death. Warnings were ignored and opportunities to save her life were missed by the professionals we trusted. This evidence is now recognized as a reality.

We lost our daughter, grand daughter, sister, cousin and niece.

Following her death the Coroner concluded that Libby died due to hypokalaemia secondary to an eating disorder. I appealed this decision and engaged a solicitor and barrister who have been helping me to build my case, with the evidence gathered,  that Libby died from inappropriately managed bulimia, which resulted in the hypokalaemia that stopped her heart as she was planning to go to town to get her driving license photographs. 

We found Libby dead on her bedroom floor, just days after I warned her professional team that intervention was needed urgently or she would indeed die. I was ignored.

We now have almost all the evidence we need to submit a further appeal to the Coroner to call for an inquest into Libby's death.

Expert witness and General Medical Council (GMC) investigations and reports have been carried out in the last 3 years all of which have identified multiple failures in Libby's care. 

Yet no-one to date has been deemed accountable. A full inquest is essential.

My legal team have almost finished preparing our case, on the back of all the evidence gathered, to resubmit our appeal for this inquest to the Coroner and to the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). We're almost there...

Why am I doing this? It won't bring Libby back.

I am doing it because I know that other kids, teens adults and their families suffering as a result of eating disorders are also receiving the poor care we received and change needs to happen. 

If I don't speak out and highlight the failures in Libby's care this will continue unchallenged and more kids will die. 

Kids with eating disorders are dying, they are also suffering inpatient clinic admissions, discharges and re admissions. Many are essentially managed until their weight reaches a level at which they can be discharged again, without addressing the wider issues. 

I am determined to expose what happened to Libby, to us and what should have been done to prevent Libby’s death to try to prevent this from happening again. 

Changes are needed to improve services for others suffering from eating disorders.  

Eating disorder management and services are being reviewed at the highest level, but will only change if failures and unnecessary deaths are brought to their attention.

Libby's case needs a full inquest engaging Article 2 ECHR because these missed opportunities, omissions and failures in care are in the public interest.

I need a further £2K for my solicitor, who has been working at legal aid rates, such is her belief in this case, to complete the reports and submissions to the PHSO and Coroner. We're almost there.

Please will you help me complete my legal challenge. Many of you may have contributed before, some of you have your own experiences with this system because your own kids are in it. If you're able to, please contribute again, every little helps.

Please share this page with your friends, family and on all social media platforms.

Libby's story

Libby was a beautiful young woman. She was clever, strong, argumentative, loving, supportive, and caring. Libby had an empathy for others that she did not receive when she needed it most.

The usual teenage tantrums aside, as parents we were sure that Libby was on a good path. She had like-minded, sensible friends and was in control of her life. Usually Libby made wise choices, sometimes with just a little guidance from us where needed, and we felt blessed to watch her growing into a successful young woman.

Libby’s decline into anorexia and subsequently bulimia and anorexia was slow and invisible. It began with a diet. As parents we kept a close eye on her weight loss, we never once considered that a simple diet could be the start of the terrible journey we'd unwittingly embarked on. We naively believed our child was smart enough to be sensible and that we would notice if not.

Tragically by the time we realized that Libby had an eating disorder her condition declined rapidly. Our GP referred Libby to CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services). The CAMHS Team seemed to have little specialist knowledge of eating disorders and Libby struggled to engage with them.  Exploring every possible avenue, we took Libby to a private psychologist who agreed she needed help but we were unable to access this help.

Bulimia finally caused Libby’s potassium to reach such a dangerously low level our GP was finally able to admit her to hospital. Her BMI alone was not low enough to meet guidelines for eating disorder interventions.

Aged just 16 and two weeks and against our and the GP’s wishes, she was placed on an adult ward rather than a paediatric ward where she could be supervised closely.

Both CAMHS eating disorder service and Newbridge eating disorder clinic assessed Libby while in hospital and agreed that inpatient care within an eating disorder clinic was necessary, after initially agreeing to this, Libby later refused to go to the clinic voluntarily.

Acquiring the necessary mental health section took a week, it was finally raised on a Friday evening after the time that Newbridge had said they could admit her. When told she would be admitted under section but had to stay in hospital for the weekend, Libby ran and had to be found and recovered by police and security.

After 3 months at the clinic and against my will, Libby was discharged. She had received almost no therapy and had not recovered. I told staff she had not overcome bulimia, I was ignored. Appropriate medical checks weren’t made before discharge.

During the first two weeks following her discharge Libby had two hospital admissions for dangerously low potassium. Both times CAMHS and Newbridge were informed. No actions were taken to keep Libby safe. I warned she would die without proper help and needed to be readmitted.

Libby persuaded everyone she was recovering, the CAMHs team decided to place her re-admission on hold. Why were the risks I had raised not taken seriously? Why was action not taken to immediately readmit Libby?

The following week, after collecting her GCSE results and having been accepted into college, Libby's heart stopped.

Legal Case 

The Coroner ruled that Libby’s death was natural, due to hypokalaemia (low potassium levels leading to cardiac arrest) and ruled that an inquest was not necessary. Clinically this is fact, however, what was not considered was that Libby had a serious mental health disorder (bulimia) that resulted in hypokalaemia and her death.

I believed, along with the support of my solicitor and barrister that opening an inquest to investigate multi-agency failures is in the public interest; however I needed to get over the first hurdle which was to convince the Coroner to open an inquest into Libby’s death. 

Expert evidence from a Consultant Psychiatrist with expertise in treating children and adolescents with eating disorders to give an opinion on whether Libby’s death was as a direct result of her mental health condition has now been collected, along with further reports gathered by the General Medical Council. 

What do I need?

To submit our second appeal to the Coroner with the new evidence will cost approximately £2k on top of the significant amounts we have already spent on getting legal advice. 

The evidence gathered reports that bulimia is a mental health disorder. This evidence will be submitted along with the submissions to the Coroner to open an inquest.  

The eventual total cost of this action is likely to be in the region of £8,000 most of which has already been achieved thanks to everyone who has supported Libby's case to date. For this I am beyond grateful. 

Please will you help me over this final hurdle and contribute again if you already have but are able to again. 

Please accept my ongoing heartfelt thanks your support.