Frances-Rose Thomas, 15, had been accessing suicide-related material for months before taking her own life
A 15-year-old autistic girl took her own life after an “enormous and systemic failure” by her special needs school left her with unfiltered access to online materials about suicide, a coroner has concluded.
Frances-Rose Thomas, known as Frankie, took steps to end her life at home in Witley, Surrey, in September 2018, after earlier the same day reading a story on an iPad provided by her school in which a character died by suicide.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.