'My daughter left home and was found dead in a derelict hotel'

THE mother of a 16-year-old girl who was found dead in a disused hotel after experiencing psychotic symptoms has paid tribute to her “lovely, beautiful and bubbly” daughter, and explained the campaign she plans to launch to change the law and prevent future tragedy.

- ROBERT DALLING

(Joanne Patton, mother of Kianna, left, who was found dead in a disused hotel on October 24, 2019)

Kianna Patton was found dead in the disused Commodore Hotel in Pembroke Dock on October 24, 2019 after being reported as a missing person the day before.

Last week, an inquest into her death concluded with a narrative verdict, the coroner stating he felt the teenager “lacked necessary intent for a conclusion of suicide”.

It had been heard how Kianna had experienced low spells dating back to 2017, for which she was referred to therapy, and a year later, began taking cannabis and missing classes, causing her grades to decline, after “being influenced by friends”.

In May 2018, she was found to have overdosed in her bedroom, and a referral was made to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), which provides services to help young people with mental health problems. She was given talking therapy and in July was prescribed antidepressants, with a working diagnosis that she had moderate depressive disorder.

Paying tribute to her daughter, Joanne Patton said: “Kianna was my world, she was a good child. I always wanted a girl, and when I knew I was pregnant with Kianna, I was overjoyed, she was so wanted.

“It’s been hard, it’s been a fight, but I wasn’t prepared to sit back and let the ruling of her inquest be suicide. I do not believe she intended to take her own life. When she took the first overdose, she said she would not do it again and knew that it had upset a lot of people. She didn't want to upset her family.

“I know that mental health is an illness, it’s not her fault at all.

“My children have kept me going. They are my reason. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here. And even though Kianna is not here, she is still my reason.”