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A prison doctor told an inquest she feared a teenage girl could become ‘lost in the system’ after a decision to discharge her from medical supervision three months before she was found dead.

Dr Lisa Cliff said she did not agree with the move and would have preferred to have kept Annelise Sanderson, 18, under monitoring, so she had an ‘extra safety net’.

The teenager is believed to have been the youngest inmate to die in a women’s prison in 20 years when she was found hanged in December 2020.

She was serving a 52-week sentence, imposed in June that year, for assaulting emergency workers who tried to stop her drinking petrol and setting herself alight, and criminal damage.

Ms Sanderson’s mother, Angela Gray, has already told the inquest in Warrington, Cheshire, that her daughter should not have been sent to HMP Styal before she had received medical treatment for her mental health problems.

Dr Lisa Cliff said she did not agree with the move and would have preferred to have kept Annelise Sanderson, 18, (pictured) under monitoring, so she had an 'extra safety net'

Dr Lisa Cliff said she did not agree with the move and would have preferred to have kept Annelise Sanderson, 18, (pictured) under monitoring, so she had an ‘extra safety net’

The teenager is believed to have been the youngest inmate to die in a women's prison in 20 years when she was found hanged in December 2020

The teenager is believed to have been the youngest inmate to die in a women’s prison in 20 years when she was found hanged in December 2020

Dr Cliff said Ms Sanderson – who had a history of depression and self-harm – was taken off her list of people to see by the pharmacist at the women’s prison, near Wilmslow, Cheshire, and discharged from supervision by the prison’s multi-disciplinary team.

The GP said she had been at the meeting where it was agreed to discharge Ms Sanderson, in September 2020, but had not agreed with the decision.

She said: ‘I had concerns. I did not want her to be lost in the system. I was aware she was 18 years old and I wanted to make sure that there was an extra safety net. I wanted to make sure that everyone was keeping an eye on her.’

The doctor said she would have kept Ms Sanderson – who had been found with a potential ligature, had threatened to jump from a landing and flooded her cell – on the list if she had been chairing the meeting.

But she accepted that she had not objected to the decision at the time.

She said: ‘I was not in charge of the meeting. I felt that my opinions were not necessarily listened to.’

Dr Cliff also revealed she had prescribed her the medication – a type called Sertraline – without having seen her face to face.

She said that she had been told by ‘ two very experienced and competent ‘ mental health nurses that Ms Sanderson had requested the drug to combat depression and low moods.

The GP, based in the prison, said there had been a long waiting list of more than 100 inmates for a doctor’s appointment and she felt that the prescription of the drug outweighed the risk of having to wait for an appointment.

She said: ‘Ideally, I would have liked to have seen her to talk about her background and explore her symptoms. But it was difficult because we were in the middle of the pandemic.

‘She was being seen by experienced nurses and I would be able to speak to them. They were used to seeing patients with depression and they could monitor any side effects.’

She was serving a 52-week sentence at HMP Styal (pictured), imposed in June that year, for assaulting emergency workers who tried to stop her drinking petrol and setting herself alight, and criminal damage

She was serving a 52-week sentence at HMP Styal (pictured), imposed in June that year, for assaulting emergency workers who tried to stop her drinking petrol and setting herself alight, and criminal damage 

Earlier in the inquest, Ms Sanderson’s mother Ms Gray said she had called the prison after her daughter told her in a telephone call she was stockpiling Sertraline and requested her cell to be searched – but received no response.

During a third day of evidence today/yesterday/WEDS, Coroner Victoria Davies also read extracts from telephone calls made by Ms Sanderson to her partner, mother and sister in the days leading up to her death.

Three days before her death, Ms Sanderson, of Runcorn, Cheshire, said to her partner that she was ‘going to be a fresh woman’ when she was released and the day before her death she promised her mother that she ‘would be out forever’.

The inquest jury is expected to be sent out tomorrow to consider its verdict.

For help, call Samaritans for free on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org 

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Post sourceDaily mail

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