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Family heartbreak over daughter's death





Fourteen-year-old Alara Lawson - described as a bright, articulate and popular Year Nine pupil at St Bartholomew’s School - appeared contented and enjoyed an idyllic home life.
The hearing in Newbury was told how the close-knit family would discuss anything and everything at the breakfast and dinner table.
Her mother Marnie said: “We would do make up, power walking and enjoy girlie things together - she was bubbly and always talking about the future.”
Her father, Wash Common dentist Peter Lawson, said: “She and her mother were close like friends. Alara only recently discussed which university she wanted to go to. “She was always a happy person.”
Alara’s happy and loving demeanour made the tragic events of June 20 all the more shocking, the inquest heard.
After enjoying dinner together as a family, her parents went to an open evening at the school, the coroner was told.
Upon returning two hours later around 8.40pm, they found their daughter hanging in the garage and despite frantic efforts to revive her, Alara died later at North Hampshire Hospital in Basingstoke.
Her family, friends and teachers were baffled and distraught but it later emerged that, unknown to almost everyone, Alara had apparently struggled with depression.
A girl known as Saffi, who lived in London and had kept in touch with Alara after the pair became friends in Cyprus before both families returned to England last year, revealed: “Over the last few months Alara was depressed and down but would always show people her smiling face.”
She discussed seeking counselling with Saffi but apparently never acted on it, the inquest heard.
After her death, notes were found in her room which revealed her inner turmoil.
One, addressed to an ex boyfriend, said: “I’ve decided to end my life.”
Another, addressed to her family, said: “I think I’ve suffered from depression for about three years. I’ve decided to end this pain.”
Her father told the coroner that, in hindsight, his daughter may have been more distraught over the ending of the relationship with her boyfriend that anyone realised.
He added: “She was a very sensitive girl. Perhaps she was much more sensitive to the end of the relationship than she should have been.”
But he pointed out that the notes were undated and, rather than being displayed, had been hidden among her personal effects.
He added: “We wonder if, perhaps, she couldn't talk to us about the feelings she was having. This was possibly a cry for help - perhaps she didn't realise how quickly this could kill her. Was this a dramatic way of bringing to our attention what was wrong and what she couldn't talk about? She was always looking to the future.”
Berkshire coroner Peter Bedford said: “I’m extremely impressed that here was a family that shared its thoughts and gave its children the opportunity to do so.”
He said that the people who knew Alara best were unconvinced she had intended her actions to be fatal, pointing to the fact that she had apparently been clinging to life when discovered and therefore could have hoped to have been discovered in time and that the notes were hidden and undated.
Mr Bedford said because there was reasonable doubt over Alara’s ultimate intentions, he would record an open verdict.



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