A MOTHER of a 25-year-old woman who took her own life said her daughter was not diagnosed with autism despite “showing all of the traits” of the condition two years before her death.

Appearing at the inquest of Sara Elizabeth Lincoln of Richmond, North Yorkshire, her mother Alison Lincoln said she had asked medical professionals for an autism assessment of her daughter in 2017, whose alcohol and drug use had worsened since first leaving home in 2014.

Ms Lincoln, who moved into temporary accommodation in Richmondshire in August 2018, was found dead at her self-contained flat on Friday, January 4.

At her daughter's inquest at Northallerton’s Evolution Centre, Mrs Lincoln said: “Two years ago I asked for an autistic assessment, if she had that diagnosis, things would have been different.

“Sara was different, she couldn’t engage with people. She used to tell people what she thought they wanted to hear.”

Reading evidence, senior coroner Rob Turnbull, revealed how Ms Lincoln had used alcohol and drugs as a coping method for what GPs and doctors had described were symptoms of anxiety.

Giving evidence, Dr Wendy Walker of the Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Trust, described her first meeting with Ms Lincoln on April 23 last year.

She said: “Sara believed she was inherently bad, she did say she knew on some level she wasn’t bad but she couldn’t shake the feeling. She talked about first getting drunk when she was 13, she didn’t think she had lost control of her drinking until the last two years. We talked about how she wanted to live a normal life. She reported no suicidal thoughts.”

Directing a question towards Dr Walker, Mrs Lincoln asked why the NHS had not given her daughter an autism assessment.

Mrs Lincoln said: “She was autistic and had every trait of autism.

"People with autism are in a category with a huge risk of suicide because of their anxiety.

“I gave a list of Sara’s traits to her GP. Why weren’t her traits recognised.

"I was Sara’s 24-hour carer - I was the only one keeping her alive. She couldn’t use her phone, she couldn’t keep her appointments, nobody would recognise me as a carer.

"For two-years I cried out for help and nobody was helping us.”

In response, Dr Walker said her team was not responsible for diagnosing the condition, but she had sought help from members of the team.

Dr Walker said: “I spoke to every member that had met with Sara, nobody said she was showing any signs of autism. Instead we identified anxiety and social anxiety.”

Coroner Turnbull asked Mrs Lincoln whether or not she thought her daughter was honest.

Mrs Lincoln said: “She would tell you what she thought you wanted to hear, it was very hard to get the truth from Sara.”

Ruling death by suicide, coroner Turnbull said: “It’s such a sad state of circumstances that has brought us here.

“She was obviously struggling with day to day living and her experience of having anxiety, whether that was because of autism or emotional instability, it was frustrated by her use of drinking, which seemed to be the method that Sara used to avoid her emotions but in doing that, she put herself in obvious danger.

“What does concern me is that she seemed to have turned a corner and had got herself into accommodation, which she wanted, and a new approach.

“It is a sad state of affairs for a 25-year-old woman’s life to come to an end and I offer my sincere condolences to the family.”

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