A 14-YEAR-OLD girl who hanged herself in the grounds of her home had made another ligature earlier the same week, an inquest heard.

Fionnuala Ryan died in the Windermere area on Friday, December 13, 2019.

Witnesses giving evidence at the hearing painted a picture of a caring, popular and much-loved girl.

“She was my only child,” mum Margaret Taylor said.

“She was my treasure.

“She wasn’t spoilt, but she knew if there was anything she wanted, anything she wanted me to do, I’d move heaven and earth to make it happen.”

The opening of the inquest yesterday heard Fionnuala had made a ligature overnight at Windermere School at the beginning of the week in which she died.

She confided in a friend who took the matter to staff.

The school called Fionnuala’s home to inform her parents of this.

As part of her evidence, Ms Taylor agreed with coroner Andrew Tweddle that her response had been one of ‘incredulity’ when given the news.

The inquest heard that she checked her daughter’s neck for ligature marks, but found none.

Ms Taylor told Cockermouth Coroner’s Court that she noticed nothing out of the ordinary in Fionnuala’s behaviour between being given the information and her daughter’s death.

The inquest heard that Fionnuala had been affected by the suicide of fellow student Pierre DaCosta Noble just a month before her own.

Ms Taylor said she believed Pierre had confided in her daughter about bullying he had been subjected to.

School nurse Susan Brown said Fionnuala had gone to see her in the aftermath of Pierre’s suicide and was upset and tearful.

“She said she couldn’t understand why it happened,” said Ms Brown.

“She said she was worried that she would forget Pierre.”

Furzana Nazir, detective chief inspector at Cumbria Constabulary at the time of Fionnuala’s death, expressed her belief that more and quicker action should have been taken after the 14-year-old’s initial ligature.

The inquest continues.

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