Troubled NHS trust comes under fire after mother's suicide

A NHS trust has been criticised after a mother killed herself around the first anniversary of her son's suicide.

An inquest heard that the Southern Health NHS Trust had failed to identify Karin Cheshire as a risk, despite being hospitalised five times within six months.

Ms Cheshire, 55, was found hanged in her family home in Bitterne Park, Southampton, on July 18.

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She used the same rope that her son Jay used to kill himself in July 2015, after rape allegations were falsely made against him.

Coroner Grahame Short criticised Southern Health at Winchester Coroner’s Court, saying that they ‘failed to understand the significance’ of the anniversary of the 17-year-old’s suicide.

A representative from Southern Health apologised for failing Ms Cheshire, who has described herself as ‘helpless, struggling and raw’.