An inquest has opened into the death of a 16-year-old schoolgirl who was found dead at a top boarding school just weeks before her GCSE exams.
Caitlyn Scott-Lee, a student in year 11, was found dead in the upstairs changing room at £44,000-a-year Wycombe Abbey School on April 21, the day before she was due to have her first-ever detention.
At Beaconsfield Coroner’s Court on April 26, coroner’s officer Annabelle West said the provisional cause of death given at a post-mortem was hanging, Bucks Free Press reported.
The the full inquest is scheduled to take place on September 14.
A tribute to Caitlyn described her as ‘gifted with autism’ and ‘had a particular passion for the theatre, arts, music and the environment’.
Caitlyn Scott-Lee, 16, was found dead in at Wycombe Abbey School on April 21
Caitlyn died the day before she was due to have her first-ever detention at Wycombe Abbey School (pictured)
Her parents, banker Jonathan Scott-Lee and his accountant wife Tara, said: ‘The school community, friends and family are grieving her loss but we are comforted in her personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
‘Caitlyn enjoyed nature, the environment, sustainability and birds. She would have appreciated potted plants over cut flowers, and support for The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.’
Her father also revealed that his daughter made a heartbreaking final diary entry in which she thanked her friends for their love, wished them luck and said goodbye.
In the final note, seen by The Sunday Times, Caitlyn described how she had run away from a school trip to Eton College as a ‘cry out for help’.
Written the night before her death, it reportedly read: ‘I hope this is my last diary entry. I want to kill myself tomorrow.’
Caitlyn’s last journal entry, written in neat cursive, highlights how the detention had been playing on her mind over the Easter break.
‘Running away was the best cry out for help I could give and you [Wycombe] responded with ‘we’d normally punish you but you’re already getting punished’.’
She took her own life the next day, just hours before she had been due to receive a two-hour punishment known as a ‘headmistress’s detention’.
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At Beaconsfield Coroner’s Court on April 26, coroner’s officer Annabelle West said the provisional cause of death given at a post-mortem was hanging
In an email to parents in Caitlyn’s year, known as Upper V, headmistress Jo Duncan said: ‘They are a close year group and, as you will understand, they are very shocked and upset.
‘It is an extremely difficult time for everyone and we will do our utmost to provide the additional pastoral care the girls will need.’
Caitlyn’s father, a senior executive in M&A Execution, Technology working on the sale of HSBC Canada to Royal Bank of Canada, was in Hong Kong at the time of the tragedy and he immediately flew to the UK.
Mr Scott-Lee is divorced from Caitlyn’s mother Tara Scott-Lee, a chartered accountant who lives in the UK.
Wycombe Abbey established in 1896, has 650 female pupils aged 11 to 18 and each girl has her own ‘House Mother’, a girl in the year above in the same house who looks after her, especially in her early days at the school.
Caitlyn’s parents praised their daughter’s work ethic in an article on the school’s website
Two years ago Caitlyn’s parents wrote an article, promoting the school on its website.
They said Caitlyn had spent time in various schools when the family lived in Singapore, but added: ‘Caitlyn has always had an affinity for the UK, and she had it in her own mind to really want to go to boarding school.
It regularly ranks among the top girls’ schools in the country and the Good Schools’ Guide (GSG) summary reports: ‘Workload is immense,’ was overriding theme from parents; ‘it’s hard for girls to fit it all in.’
‘During our time in Singapore, Caitlyn was always the one working hard to get into a boarding school.
‘We did extensive research from abroad and looked at the top boarding schools in the UK and Wycombe Abbey in the UK was a great fit for Caitlyn.
‘However, it was Caitlyn’s exemplary work ethic and motivation that led to her eventually gain a place at Wycombe Abbey UK.’
For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or go to samaritans.org.
