'Everybody said, oh, you'll have closure. But I never want closure, I want to keep fighting'

SOPHIE'S INQUEST LEFT THE JURY IN TEARS

- By JOSEPH CONNOLLY

WHEN Sophie Towle was in the taxi taking her back to Sherwood Oaks Hospital, she texted her funeral arrangements to her parents.

Four weeks later, she died.

"Mum, I don't feel safe here," reads one message to her mother, Leisa.

At the end of Sophie's three-week inquest on October 24, a 12-person jury, which debated for just a few hours, found that neglect by those caring for her had contributed to her death.

Sophie, 22, was sectioned under Section 3 of the Mental Health Act when she died, meaning Sherwood Oaks Hospital, run by Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHCT), was legally responsible for her.

When the jury's conclusion was announced, Leisa and Sophie's dad Jeremy burst into tears.

They seemed like tears of pain. But they were mostly tears of relief.

"We'd been heard," said Leisa. "Sophie had finally been heard. People can see what she and we went through.

"My worst nightmare would have been getting to the end of the inquest and it being ruled as natural causes or unpreventable.

"We always thought it could've been prevented, but for other people who didn't know us to come to the same conclusions, it was a relief. We were right."

Sophie's mental health problems started in her youth and became worse in her teenage years.

In 2021, she sought and received a diagnosis for ADHD. In the same session, when being screened for other potential issues, she was found to have EUPD - Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder, sometimes known as Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).

In September that year, she was sectioned for the first time at Highbury Hospital in Nottingham, another NHCT facility, where she had a traumatic stay. She was later discharged into the community and lived on her own in a supported living flat in West Bridgford. When she was sectioned again in May 2023, she was taken to Sherwood Oaks, where she found her experience equally as bad.