A teenager who was murdered by a fellow care home resident wrote a letter that social services had “destroyed my life”, her inquest has heard.
Melissa Mathieson, 18, who was killed by Jason Conroy, said she was “dragged away” from home when she was placed at Alexandra House in Bristol.
In the letter titled “Social services have destroyed my life”, Mathieson wrote: “I felt I was being dragged away from my home and everything I knew and been completely disrupted. They never took into consideration my age or the distance from my family. I was still a child, just very confused.”
The inquest, which is taking place more than 10 years after Mathieson died, heard that her parents believed social workers fuelled her fantasy of what living in care away from her family would be like.
Her father, James Mathieson, expressed concern that it had taken so long for the inquest to begin and said lessons had to be learned from his daughter’s death.
Conroy was jailed for life a year after killing Mathieson, who was from Windsor, Berkshire, in 2014. A serious case review found the attack was predictable and preventable as Conroy had assaulted other women and Alexandra House was fined.
James Mathieson told the inquest at Avon coroner’s court that his daughter was kind, gentle and wanted to work in a children’s nursery.
She was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder aged seven, had difficulties with her speech and was bullied at school.
James Mathieson said she became obsessed with the fictional Jacqueline Wilson character Tracy Beaker, who lived “happily” in a residential care home nicknamed the Dumping Ground.
He said social workers talked to her about living in care, which fuelled a “fantasy” of what it would be like. He said: “Whenever social services became involved, her social worker would talk to Melissa about going into care, without really explaining to her what this actually meant. This encouraged Melissa to develop this fantasy of care as being the answer to all her problems.”
He said that just after Mathieson’s 17th birthday she was admitted to hospital with anxiety and after that moved between care homes, returning home only intermittently.
“No one seemed to listen to us or involve us in the decisions being made,” he said. Mathieson moved to Alexandra House – about 80 miles from the family home – three days after her 18th birthday.
James Mathieson spoke to his daughter the night before she died. She was tired and he told her to go sleep. “She was killed in her sleep,” he said. “I have to live with that.”
Her mother, Karen Mathieson, died from cancer at the end of 2015. James Mathieson said he believed Melissa would have helped care for her. “I think in some way it would have made her,” he said.
Maria Voisin, the senior coroner for Avon, said the inquest had been delayed by legal proceedings but James Mathieson said: “I should not have had to wait for over 10 years for this inquest to happen. I feel it should have happened shortly after to ensure that something like this doesn’t happen again.”
A statement from Karen Mathieson read out in court said she and her husband had found the involvement of social services “impossible”.
It said: “From the age of about 16, we felt we no longer had a voice – social services were putting ideas into her head about living away from home and ultimately it was this that put Melissa in danger.
Karen Mathieson said Conroy’s problems should have been addressed. “There were warning signs. These were missed and nothing will bring Melissa back,” she said. “The system failed him and failed Melissa.”
The inquest continues.
